IAEA Board Puts Spotlight on “Israels” Nuclear Weapons

For the first time since 1991, Arab countries had succeeded - despite objections by the United States - in having an item entitled "Israeli nuclear capabilities" included on the agenda of a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency here.

At a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog on Thursday, the IAEA called on
"Israel" to come clean about its nuclear capability and open up to global scrutiny.

"Israel", a member of the IAEA but not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is widely believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, with around 200 warheads, but has maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its capabilities.

Speaking on behalf of the Arab group, Sudan's ambassador to the IAEA Mahmoud Al Amin told the closed-door session that "Israel" was a "nuclear danger."

And that danger was "reinforced by "Israel's" aggressive policies toward the Arab countries, threatening peace and security in the region," as seen in the recent "Israeli" raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Amin said.

Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Sultanieh similarly described ""Israel's" nuclear capability a serious threat to the health, security and prosperity of the world, because the "Israeli" regime refuses to be bound by any international commitments or moral values."

A similar resolution was passed at last month's NPT Review Conference in New York, as well as one calling for a regional conference in 2012 to advance the goal of a nuclear-free Middle East.

At the IAEA on Thursday, US envoy Glyn Davies described the inclusion of the Israel issue at the IAEA's regular June board meeting as "untimely and uncalled-for."