IAEA meeting: Iran blames Israel for killing nuke scientists

Israel in turn accused Tehran of secretly working on nuclear arms, warning that it may be the first nation to develop such weapons while being a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The recriminations at and outside of a meeting of the 151-nation International Atomic Energy Agency reflected the bitterness dividing not only the Mideast's most intractable foes but of the camps supporting them.

Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions for not mothballing a program that can make both nuclear fuel or fissile warhead material. It has rapidly expanded since being discovered in 2002, and concerns have grown with the country's refusal to allow the IAEA to probe growing intelligence-based allegations that it is working on a nuclear warhead and other aspects of a weapons program.

Tehran insists, however, it is only interested in nuclear power, not weapons. It says the intelligence is fabricated by the United States and its allies, arguing it is the target of a campaign by world powers meant to keep it and other developing nations from the benefits – and profits – of peaceful nuclear technology.

Criticizing US ally Israel for not acknowledging it has nuclear weapons, Tehran exploits Muslim hostility and fear against the Jewish state as it seeks to blunt concerns about its own growing nuclear prowess.