Iran claims without evidence that it took Israeli nuclear files

By JON GAMBRELL DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP Iran s intelligence minister claimed without offering evidence Sunday that Tehran seized an central treasury of information regarding Israel s nuclear plan ahead of a week in which the Islamic Republic likely will face new diplomatic pressure over its own activity The remarks by Esmail Khatib follow Iranian state television claiming Saturday that Iranian intelligence administrators seized documents again without any evidence Israel whose undeclared atomic weapons venture makes it the only country in the Mideast with nuclear bombs has not acknowledged any such Iranian operation targeting it though there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip Iran meanwhile will likely face censure this week from the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Resource Agency over longstanding questions about its initiative Iran has also signaled it will reject a proposal from the United States after five rounds of negotiations over its nuclear operation setting the stage for that long-running emergency to potentially spike as well Treasury of secrets claim comes without evidence Responding to questions from an Iranian state TV reporter Sunday after a Cabinet meeting Khatib declared members of the Intelligence Ministry achieved an significant treasury of strategic operational and scientific intelligence of the Zionist regime and it was transferred into the country with God s help He claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained and insisted they would be made population soon Among them were documents related to the U S Europe and other countries he claimed obtained through infiltration and access to the sources He did not elaborate on the methods used However Khatib a Shiite cleric was sanctioned by the U S Treasury in over directing cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in advocacy of Iran s political goals For Iran the claim may be designed to show the populace that the theocracy was able to respond to a Israeli operation that spirited out what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a half ton of documents related to Iran s initiative That Israeli announcement came just before President Donald Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Iran s nuclear deal with world powers which greatly limited its project in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions Announcement ahead of IAEA board vote as US talks waver This week Western nations are expect to go before the IAEA s Board of Governors with a proposal to find Iran in noncompliance with the United Nations nuclear watchdog It could be the first time in decades and likely would kick the issue to the U N Shield Council That could see one of the Western countries involved in the nuclear deal invoke the so-called snapback of U N sanctions on the Islamic Republic The authority to reestablish those sanctions by the complaint of any member of the original nuclear deal expires in October putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its scheme before losing that power Iran now enriches uranium up to purity a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of Tehran has enough highly enriched uranium to build multiple atomic bombs should it choose to do so Without a deal with the U S Iran s long-ailing market system could enter a freefall that could worsen the simmering unrest at home Israel or the U S might carry out long-threatened airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities Experts fear Tehran in response could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA and rush toward a bomb Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran Iran contributed to this account The Associated Press receives encouragement for nuclear protection coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape https apnews com projects the-new-nuclear-landscape