‘Either a Liar or an Idiot’: Netanyahu’s Iran Claims Insult Integrity of IAEA

​Israeli intelligence agencies have accrued 55,000 pages of documents and other materials detailing an alleged military nuclear program called "Project Amad," according to Netanyahu, who noted that Israel had shared its intelligence with Washington.

The announcement comes ahead of the May 12 deadline for US President Donald Trump to extend his country's deal with Iran concerning the latter's nuclear program, which he is expected not to do. It also comes hot of the heels of former CIA Director Mike Pompeo's first foreign visit since becoming secretary of state over the weekend. Pompeo visited both Israel and Saudi Arabia — key regional foes of the Islamic Republic. 

Political analyst Marwa Osman Osman balked at the Israeli government's attempt to shape the narrative around the nuclear agreement ahead of Trump's decision deadline. "One of my students in freshman year could do better than that," she told Loud & Clear hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.

If Netanyahu's presentation is true, Iran would be in violation of its nuclear agreement with the United States and a number of other nations, known formally as the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and colloquially as the Iran nuclear deal.

"We all had our laughs, we all made fun, but to be honest with you — this was the most insulting 15 to 20 minutes for the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] that I've ever heard," Osman said. "Benjamin Netanyahu was basically saying that every inspector, investigative team that went into Iran to try to mediate the nuclear deal… is either a liar or an idiot. That's what he said."

The UN agency's Director General, Yukiya Amano, told the IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors on March 5, 2018, that "Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments." 

"Does he really think that with such a presentation he'll be able to wage war against Iran or against Iranian presence in Syria," Osman wondered. "Netanyahu — Israel — has been attacking Syria nonstop for the past six years, if not for the past seven years. But let's say, with documented evidence, six years, and lately, last night at 10 p.m., with new weaponry," Osman said.

Specifically, she says that the weapons used in the attack on the 47th Brigade of the Syrian Arab Army, a unit made up of Iranian forces and forces from Hezbollah, were similar to either depleted uranium or an "enhanced nuclear weapon."

The attack, on an military base between the Syrian cities of Hama and Homs, killed a number of Iranian forces Sunday night. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack; however, Israel has been blamed by many, Sputnik News reported.

"They have been going wild for the past two weeks," Osman said, "to provoke an Iranian response."

"Unfortunately we're seeing a repeat of disastrous history where the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia are all trying to present, as facts, what is really justifications for a war they already want to do," author and activist Medea Benjamin told Loud & Clear.

"We have seen that [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo and [National Security Adviser] John Bolton have, years ago, talked about bombing Iran. John Bolton did it in a New York Times op-ed, saying that to get rid of Iran's bombs you have to bomb Iran," Benjamin said.

"They are also thinking that because the economy in Iran is weak — which is their doing, the US's doing — that this is the time to really hit them hard. And I think they're under the illusions, just as they were under the illusion back in 2002, that they could easily overthrow [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein and put a new government in place," Benjamin said about the lead-up to the Iraq War. "I think they think they can overthrow, or the ‘people of Iran' will get rid of this government and then somehow, miraculously, a US-Western-friendly government would be put in place without massive chaos."

"This is déjà vu all over again, and it is very dangerous," Benjamin warned.