by HN/MGH
July 15, 2010
from
PressTV Website
An aerial image of
Israel's Dimona nuclear facility
An investigation in the United States has charged a US-based Israeli company
with attempting to export nuclear weapons-related material to Israel.
The investigation conducted by the Bureau of Industry and Security says
Israeli company, Pelogy, attempted to export controlled goods to
Israel, India, China and South Africa.
It says in the case of Israel and India, the
goods could have been used to make nuclear weapons.
The charges against the company comes after Israeli sources declared earlier
in July that the US has secretly given a "written guarantee" to Israel that
obliges Washington to sell Israel nuclear fission materials.
Washington has also vowed to "publicly announce" that Israel is a
responsible entity and can "contain its capabilities," the sources said.
Israel is widely believed to be the only possessor of nuclear firepower
throughout the Middle East. Since 1958, when Israel began building its
Dimona nuclear facility, it has reportedly
manufactured scores of nuclear warheads.
Most experts estimate that Israel has between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads,
largely based on information leaked to The Sunday Times newspaper in
the 1980s by
Mordechai Vanunu, a former worker at
the Dimona nuclear reactor.
Israel which has initiated several wars in the region in its over 60 years
of occupation, maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity over its nuclear
weapons program.