The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said its independence is paramount and it does not take intelligence presented to it at face value, in an apparent response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's description of a "secret atomic warehouse" in Iran.
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly last week, Netanyahu presented world leaders with evidence that Iran was storing nuclear-related material, in violation of the 2015 deal with world powers.
He said Israel plans to share the recently obtained intelligence on covert Iranian nuclear activity, as well as on its efforts to arm its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, with several countries worldwide in an effort to drive them to act against the Islamic republic.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that it has
"conducted inspections under the additional protocol to all the sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit.
"The agency sends inspectors to sites and locations only when needed. The agency uses all safeguards relevant to information available to it but it does not take any information at face value," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in a statement on Tuesday.
"In order to maintain credibility, the agency's independence in relation to the implementation of verification activities is of paramount importance," he said.
"All information obtained, including from third parties, is subject to rigorous review and assessed together with other available information."
