Israel Seen Behind AP’s Iran ‘Nuclear Graph’ Hoax

AP Refuses to Confirm, But Diplomats Suspect Mossad

A late November Associated Press report by George Jahn revealed a “nuclear graph” allegedly from Iran by way of an IAEA investigation, sparking a flurry of responses centering on the graph’s incorrect math and leading experts to conclude it was an amateurish hoax.

But who’s hoax? Western diplomats are pointing the finger squarely at Israel’s Mossad spy agency, saying they believe that the leaks were part of an effort to implicate an assassinated Iranian in a weapons program. The diplomats also say Mossad is increasingly active in Austria, the home of the IAEA, looking to drive support for an Israeli war on Iran.

The AP has declined to comment further on where the graph came from, only saying it was an unnamed country who has been critical of Iran’s nuclear program. Israel has refused to comment at all on the matter.

After experts announced that the original AP story had the look of an “amateurish hoax,” Jahn released a second article attempting to defend the findings and speculating that Iran might have deliberately made a bad graph just to throw people off, claiming that the graph’s wrongness “supports suspicions” about Iran.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.