Under the title "First Iranian Admission of Mossad's Operation to Seize Nuclear Program Documents," Al-Hurra News Channel published a translated article from the "Jerusalem Post" discussing the accusation made by a high-ranking Iranian official, claiming that Israel stole the country's nuclear archive. The newspaper described this as the first public acknowledgment from Tehran regarding the Mossad operation in 2018.
A senior advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader stated that Israel stole the country's nuclear archive, emphasizing that the nation needs a significant overhaul of its security. Mohsen Rezai, who also serves as the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council directly under the Supreme Leader, told the Mehr News Agency on Wednesday that "the country has faced widespread security violations, evidenced by three security incidents occurring within a year: two explosions and one assassination."
Rezai added, "Prior to that, documents from the entire nuclear archive were stolen, and some suspicious drones engaged in certain activities." When Mossad seized the nuclear archive from Iran in 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented evidence indicating that Tehran aimed to develop a nuclear weapon, something Iran has denied as true. At that time, Israeli Mossad operatives raided an Iranian warehouse housing the nuclear program archive and smuggled original documents to Israel the same night, according to an unnamed senior Israeli official quoted by the "New York Times."
Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi described the incident as "very childish and ridiculous," while Mohammad Marandi, one of Iran's negotiators for the 2015 nuclear agreement, stated that Israel possessed "falsified evidence."
In July, an explosion occurred at the main Natanz nuclear complex located in Isfahan province, which destroyed most of the centrifuge assembly facility. Iran accused Israel of being behind this, which Israel has not commented on. Just days ago, the same nuclear facility experienced "sabotage," according to Tehran, following a power outage, with media reports indicating that Iran needs months to resume uranium enrichment at Natanz.
Iranian officials stated that the attack on the Natanz nuclear complex damaged centrifuges and caused a fire and power outage at the facility. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its role. These statements come at a time when American and Iranian negotiators are seeking ways to untangle sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy in exchange for Tehran's return to the 2015 nuclear agreement. The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reinstated previous sanctions along with additional measures in a campaign of maximum pressure on Tehran.
