Fresh Air

The following unpublished letter was in response to this interview.

In “Five Minutes with Fitz” (July 6) Melissa Parke says Iran was cooperating with nuclear inspectors prior to Israel’s strikes, and US intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessed Iran wasn’t developing a nuclear weapon.

In fact, on June 12, the IAEA declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for consistently failing to provide information. It only said it had no proof Iran was developing nuclear weapons, not that Iran wasn’t, and also said that no country has enriched uranium to Iran’s high level without developing nuclear weapons.

US assessments subsequent to the one Parke cited also found Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

Israel’s strike was legal, contrary to her claims, both because there was an imminent threat and because Israel was already in armed conflict with Iran, which was attacking Israel through its proxies and directly.

Parke also claims the International Court of Justice said it’s plausible Israel is committing genocide. However, the Court’s then-President Joan Donoghue told the BBC the Court only determined that the Palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide.