Secret Israeli Report: Venezuela, Bolivia Supplying Iran With Uranium For Its Nuclear Program

JERUSALEM — Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran's nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

"There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program," the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, "Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran."

The report concludes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to undermine the United States by supporting Iran.

Venezuela and Bolivia are close allies, and both regimes have a history of opposing U.S. foreign policy and Israeli actions. Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador during Israel's offensive in Gaza this year, and Israel retaliated by expelling the Venezuelan envoy. Bolivia cut ties with Israel over the offensive.

There was no immediate comment from officials in Venezuela or Bolivia on the report's allegations.

The three-page document about Iranian activities in Latin America was prepared in advance of a visit to South America by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who will attend a conference of the Organization of American States in Honduras next week. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is also scheduled to visit the region.

Israel considers Iran a serious threat because of its nuclear program, development of long-range missiles and frequent references by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Israel's destruction. Israel dismisses Iran's insistence that its nuclear program is peaceful, charging that the Iranians are building nuclear weapons.

Iran says its nuclear work is aimed only at producing energy. Its enrichment of uranium has increased concerns about its program because that technology can be used both to produce fuel for power plants and to build bombs.

Israel has been pressing for world action to stop the Iranian program. While saying it prefers diplomatic action, Israel has not taken its military option off the table. Experts believe Israel is capable of destroying some of Iran's nuclear facilities in airstrikes.

Iran, under Ahmadinejad, has strengthened its ties with both Venezuela and Bolivia, where it opened an embassy last year. Its alliance with the left-led nations is based largely on their shared antagonism to the United States but is also a way for Iran to lessen its international isolation.

The Israeli government report did not say where the uranium that it alleged the two countries were supplying originated from.

Bolivia has uranium deposits. Venezuela is not currently mining its own estimated 50,000 tons of untapped uranium reserves, according to an analysis published in December by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Carnegie report said, however, that recent collaboration with Iran in strategic minerals has generated speculation that Venezuela could mine uranium for Iran.

The Israeli government report also charges that the Iran-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have set up cells in Latin America. It says Venezuela has issued permits that allow Iranian residents to travel freely in South America.

The report concludes, "Since Ahmadinejad's rise to power, Tehran has been promoting an aggressive policy aimed at bolstering its ties with Latin American countries with the declared goal of 'bringing America to its knees.'"

The document says Venezuela and Bolivia are violating the United Nations Security Council's economic sanctions with their aid to Iran.

As allies against the U.S., Ahmadinejad and Chavez have set up a $200 billion fund aimed at garnering the support of more South American countries for the cause of "liberation from the American imperialism," according to the report.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor refused to comment about the secret report.

Comments

[11907281]

08:22 PM on 05/26/2009

Pretty convenient that Israel has a report, no evidence just a report, on 2 of Americas nearest "threats" that show it's helping Israel's biggest threat ... again with no evidence!! I know Gitmo has really lowered the bar on the whole concept of "burden of proof" but launching another war with birdcage liner like this will not fly with the public, over here anyway. I do have one question for the author though. When you say "frequent references by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Israel's destruction." do you have and sources besides the one sentence that we have heard for the last 3 years? Or does "frequent" mean "once" to you?

[Cieran]

06:30 PM on 05/26/2009

Looks like no one believes the Khazar's lies anymore.

[Hass]

05:26 PM on 05/26/2009

Ummm....Iran has its own uranium mines. In fact, the discovery of uranium in Iran was announced on national radio in the 1980s, and IAEA inspectors even visited Iran's uranium mines in the 1990s.

[charlietuna11]

04:23 PM on 05/26/2009

i love secrets from israel that some how find their way to prominent news sources. i read another secret report from israel that the weapons of destruction that were supposed to be in iraq were (secretly) stored in the bekka region of lebanon. why those 1400 inspecters never found this out is troubleing. our very best and faithful friend should be sharing this info with us.

[jdenham]

02:05 PM on 05/26/2009

Why would I beleive Israeli Intelligence? They may be correct but it would be far more credible if this was coming from a nation that did not want to go to war with Iran. This one of the Bush legacys that we can no longer trust Israel. I find it strange that the Bush Administration did not put this out considering their relationship with Venezuela.

[KCFreedom]

02:39 PM on 05/26/2009

Unfortunately, there are plenty of Iz supporters in the Dem party, too. Owned lock, stock and barrel.

But point taken, it is surprising that Bu$h didn't come out with this whopper first. Guess Karl didn't think of that one.

[KPinSEA]

01:31 PM on 05/26/2009

We were your patsies for an unprovoked proxy war on Iraq, boys, why don't you see if you can get Britain or France to bite on this B.S. this time around?

[MemoryAlpha]

12:30 PM on 05/26/2009

Similarities to Falsified Intel regarding Iraq seeking "yellow cake" in Africa:
Numerous.

[greatscot]

12:12 PM on 05/26/2009

This is either a particularly ham-handed Israeli agit-prop piece or it is a false-flag piece of nonsense which the Israelis have put out in order to point to as an example of the ham-handedness of Israel's enemies. Either way it contains no facts, no evidence (ie. who, what, where, why, when?). The take-away message for U.S. readers is supposed to be that Israel loves the United States and will do all in its power to protect us, silly geese that we are! My take-away message from this piece of provocative, incendiary fluff is that with friends like the Israelis we don't need any enemies!

[111]

12:01 PM on 05/26/2009

Iran has signed the NPT, has complied with inspections and is developing their nuclear energy program in accordance to the international agreement. Who cares where they are purchasing their uranium from? It is for an energy program according to the inspectors.

Some interesting facts about Israel's secret WMDs - http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/

Norway, France, the US, South Africa all contribute to Israel's WMD program knowing Israel is building bombs and refusing inspections. There are probably others. The US has sold Israel the super computers and missile systems without hesitation.

I don't care that Iran wants a power plant.

[alexa07]

12:19 PM on 05/26/2009

Yes, 111, you you've said it all in one perfect phrase! "Israel's WMD program." Let's hope President Obama will resist the Israeli govt 's attempts to force us into yet another war in the region. The US Congress is near 100% useless in this regard!

[azbird]

03:04 PM on 05/27/2009

you will

[Sentientbeing09]

04:32 PM on 05/27/2009

The more I hear from Israel about Irans nuclear research, the less I care about it

[Mogamboguru]

11:55 AM on 05/26/2009

The best thing is, that people have educated themselves long and good enough over the internet, that these stories don't get traction at all anymore, but only backfire these days.

The times for forging WMD- and Yellow-Cake-stories is up.

[bigfro]

11:51 AM on 05/26/2009

Let me shorten what you'll read here in the comments

Israel lies about everything and only wants to hurt people.

The Arabs are little perfect angels who never lie about anything

Israel must constantly make concessions

Palestinians never have to keep their word about anything only receive more concessions

The 55% percent of the world that is Islamic is a minority to the 1% of the world that is Jewish

The UN is an honest broker and International Law is legitimate when ruled by a muslim majority that is intent on destroying Israel

Arabs don't need to allow Jews into their countries or allow access to their holy sites, but the Jews must share even if it mean never being able to visit their holy sites again like on the tempe Mount.

Jews must live in bomb shelters with their children during rocket fire, but must never fight back

We should let the arabs burn Israel to the ground and force Israel to start a nuclear war as they die in self defense killing us all in the process

Oh yeah and any Jew that is worried about their family in Israel is a bigot and a racist

[Mogamboguru]

12:06 PM on 05/26/2009

Nice try.

[KCFreedom]

12:06 PM on 05/26/2009

Rush is on. Better go tune him in.

[agro23]

11:37 AM on 05/26/2009

Some of you guys are as bad as the anti-Is left in the UK. Just because the report came from a country whose government you don't support doesn't make it untrue. I wish you could think with your heads instead of your hearts and look a little further down the road. (Although it is funny to see liberals in bed with the neo-nats on an issue.)

[moflard]

11:44 AM on 05/26/2009

Ok fair enough - but then Iran says it isn't after nuclear weapons. Now just because people don't like /that/ government doesn't make that statement untrue.

Of the two though - I trust Iran one hell of a lot more than I trust Israel.

[azbird]

03:10 PM on 05/27/2009

I find that last statement incredible

[Sentientbeing09]

05:02 PM on 05/26/2009

Whats a neonat?

Spell it out properly for us. Be more upfront about what youre trying to say.

[Deparis]

11:29 AM on 05/26/2009

Yeah right, sounds pretty much like one of them "slam dunk" reports.

[felixthecat]

11:19 AM on 05/26/2009

LIES

[LatinAmericano]

11:09 AM on 05/26/2009

As a Colombian-American, I see It's obvious that Israel has COOKED this report. Here we go again, WMD and 'Mushroom Cloud' reports being compiled to coerce the US in attacking and undermining independent nations. Hopefully Pres. Obama is clever enough to figure this one out.

Have we historically learned anything from Bush, Cheney and the Neocons' invasion of Iraq ??

Israel is gasping for air by implicating these sovereign LatAm nations with Iran 's nuclear program.

Winds of change are blowing in Latin America, and a new overdue global standing is being asserted by these sovereign nations.

Israel: Please stay away from South America. Mr. Danny Ayalon: Save yourself a trip to the OAS as the great majority of LatAm countries are sympathetic with the Palestinian cause. Why don't you start dismantling the illegal settlements so peace can be given a chance?