Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Iran's systematic deception of the nuclear energy agency should be a wake-up call to the entire world and further proof of Iran's attempts to seek a nuclear weapon.
Bennett added that it was time for the Nuclear Energy Agency's Board of Governors to act and tell Iran "enough is enough."
Bennett was commenting on a Wall Street Journal report that stated that Iran had had access to secret IAEA reports for nearly two decades, and that it had succeeded in obtaining information that helped it cover up a program to develop a nuclear weapon.
For his part, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said - on Wednesday - that talks with Iran are "at a very difficult juncture", regarding the interpretation of the origin of processed uranium particles found at seemingly old and undisclosed sites.
The IAEA and Iran agreed last March on a three-month plan to resolve the issue, which has been a source of tension between Iran and Western powers, even during broader negotiations aimed at returning Tehran and Washington to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
While Grossi's efforts to get answers from Iran are not part of broader talks to revive the 2015 deal, the lack of progress could lead to a new confrontation between Iran and the West on the agency's board of governors, which would complicate indirect talks between Iran and the United States, which It was last held in March of last year.
For his part, the US envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said that Washington seeks to return to the agreement "because it is in our interest, but if Iran tries to raise the ceiling of its conditions, we will reject that and we will not reach an agreement."
Mali explained that the prospects for reviving the nuclear agreement are weak at best, and stressed the US administration's readiness to impose and intensify sanctions on Iran in the event of no agreement being reached.
On the other hand, a US intelligence official said that the Israelis told the Americans that the assassination of Hassan Sayyad Khodayi was a warning to Iran to stop the operations of a secret group within the Quds Force known as Unit 840.
The US intelligence official added, quoting the New York Times, that Unit 840 is tasked with kidnapping and assassinating foreigners around the world, including Israeli civilians and officials.
Hassan Sayyad Khadaye was the deputy commander of the unit, according to Israeli government, army and intelligence officials.
Colonel Khadaei was killed in front of his home in the capital, Tehran, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said that Khadaei - who had previously participated in the war in Syria - was shot at by two gunmen who were on a motorcycle, describing the operation as terrorist and standing behind it by what he called entities affiliated with global arrogance, as he put it.