Netanyahu claims Israel knows where Iran stores enriched uranium

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that “Tel Aviv knows where Iran stores uranium enriched to levels close to weapons grade.”

Netanyahu said in an interview with the American network “Fox News”: “We certainly know where it is. We have a good idea where it is, and Israel shared that intelligence with the United States.”

Netanyahu did not give a direct answer to a question about whether Israel, which is widely believed to possess a covert nuclear arsenal, plans to seize the uranium located in Iran.

He said: “We must maintain diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran, to make clear that we will not tolerate the resumption of its efforts to build nuclear bombs aimed at destroying my country and yours.”

According to a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran had more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity in early summer, before the war launched by the Israeli army against Tehran.

Producing nuclear weapons requires further enrichment to beyond 90%. However, it remains unclear how much of that material Iran still retains, and whether its enrichment capabilities are intact after U.S. and Israeli attacks in June. Iran has long sought to acquire nuclear weapons.

About a decade after the historic nuclear deal with Iran, U.N. sanctions that had been imposed on Tehran were reimposed. The deadline for reaching an agreement between Tehran and its negotiating partners — Germany, the United Kingdom and France — had passed.

The three European countries moved to reimpose the sanctions, accusing Iran of violating the 2015 Vienna nuclear deal, notably by enriching uranium to levels far beyond what is required for civilian purposes.