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Israel firm charged in nuclear case

15 July 2010 19:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An investigation in the United States has charged a US-based Israeli company with attempting to export nuclear weapons-related material to Israel, APA reports quoting presstv.ir website.

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 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 60-year-old history of occupation maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity over its nuclear weapons program.