Iran claims seizure of secret documents on Israel’s nuclear programme

Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib said on Sunday that Iranian authorities had seized an “important treasury” of information related to Israel’s nuclear program, though he provided no supporting evidence for the claim.

The statement followed an earlier report on Iranian state television on Saturday, which also alleged that Iranian intelligence had obtained classified documents without offering proof. Israel, widely believed to possess an undeclared nuclear arsenal and the only nuclear-armed state in West Asia, has not confirmed any such espionage operation against it. However, recent arrests of Israeli citizens accused of spying for Iran have emerged amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Iran is expected to face increased scrutiny this week from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors over unresolved issues concerning its own nuclear activities. Iran has indicated it will reject a recent proposal from the United States, following five rounds of stalled negotiations, raising the possibility of further escalation in the protracted nuclear dispute.

Responding to questions from an Iranian state TV reporter Sunday after a Cabinet meeting, Khatib said members of the Intelligence Ministry “achieved an important 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 public 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 2022 over directing “cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran’s political goals.”

For Iran, the claim may be designed to show the public that the theocracy was able to respond to a 2018 Israeli operation that spirited out what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “half ton” of documents related to Iran’s program. That Israeli announcement came just before President Donald Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which greatly limited its program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

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. Security Council.

That could see one of the Western countries involved in the 2015 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 2015 nuclear deal expires in October — putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its program before losing that power.

Iran now enriches uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. 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 economy 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.

With inputs from agencies