In an attempt to salve over concerns that the IAEA’s discussion of the Israeli nuclear arsenal would bring any actual policy change, officials are saying that the IAEA will not, under any circumstances, attempt to draw a parallel between Israel and Iran.
While this was meant to reassure Israel, it seems that the stark differences between Israel and Iran on the nuclear front are very apparent, and from a proliferation standpoint the Iranians are better served by not being in the same company.
While Israel is a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and possesses one of the world’s largest undeclared nuclear arsenals, Iran has only a modest civilian enrichment program which is under intense IAEA scrutiny at all times. The IAEA is continually able to verify the non-diversion of Iranian nuclear material to weapons purposes, the same has never been true of Israel.
Officials insist the IAEA position on Israel has not changed, though what exactly that position is remains unclear. They also say, contrary to reports, that Israel was discussed in IAEA meetings before, but was removed from the agenda of those meetings for some reason.
