Israel accuses Iran of nuclear deception

VIENNA (AP) — Israel is accusing Iran of working secretly on nuclear weapons under a strategy of “deception, defiance and concealment.”

The hard-edged comments at the International Atomic Energy Agency are not new. But they reflect the animosity between the Jewish state and Iran that could spill over into armed conflict.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the eradication of Israel, while Israel has threatened military strikes against the Islamic Republic if diplomacy fails to curb a nuclear program it sees as geared toward making weapons.

Israeli delegate Ehud Azoulay told the 35-nation IAEA board Wednesday that Iran “is proceeding in (an) accelerated path towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability.”

Iran dismisses IAEA concerns that it may have worked on nuclear weapons and insists it has no interest in possessing such arms.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.