Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu: Iran has 'secret atomic warehouse' in Tehran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate Iran during a speech at the United Nations on Thursday, where he insisted the Islamic Republic is hiding an ongoing nuclear weapons operation.

What are the details?

The New York Post reported that Netanyahu told the General Assembly, "Today I am disclosing for the first time that Iran has another secret facility in Tehran, a secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipment and material from Iran's secret nuclear program."

According to Reuters, he added, "Since we raided the archive, they've been busy cleaning out the atomic warehouse. Just last month they removed 15 kilograms of radioactive material. You know what they did with it? They took it out and they spread it around Tehran in an effort to hide evidence."

In asking for inspection by the IAEA, he urged, "Do the right thing. Go and inspect; go and investigate. The reason Iran did not destroy its atomic facility and warehouse is because it is not finished with them."

Netanyahu used maps and photos in his presentation to help make his case, and then took aim at world leaders for appeasing Tehran through efforts to maintain the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

"While the United States is confronting Iran with new sanctions, Europe and others are appeasing Iran by trying to help it bypass those new sanctions," he said, according to The Telegraph. "Have these European leaders learned nothing from history? Will they ever wake up?"

The prime minister has been a longtime critic of the Iran deal, and urged the U.S. to withdraw from it — which "resident Trump did, in May." Just before the president abandoned the Obama-era agreement, Netanyahu was quoted by The Hill saying the pact was "based on a lie."

"If you do nothing to this deal, if you keep it as is, you will end up with Iran with a nuclear arsenal in a very short time," he insisted.

Despite the purported evidence supplied by Netanyahu, European countries and the IAEA have repeatedly insisted that Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal. If, however, it can be confirmed that the secret facility is in operation, it could prove that Iran is in violation of the agreement.