Iran FM blasts Netanyahu after Fox News releases satellite images of Iran's secret nuclear facility: 'Using sock puppets'

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling out his "utter desperation" after Fox News released satellite images of an alleged secret Iranian nuclear weapons facility. 

US-based Fox News on Thursday released the images of a secret nuclear weapons site in Iran's Semnan Province. The 'Rainbow Site' has reportedly been in operation for a decade under the guise of a chemical company called Diba Energy Siba. It covers over 2,500 acres. The site engages in the extraction of tritium, a radioactive isotope used to enhance nuclear weapons.

According to Fox News, tritium has no application in civilian or energy applications, which casts doubt on Iran’s longstanding claims that its nuclear ambitions are solely for energy or civilian use.

The photos angered Iran's Araghchi, who said Netanyahu was behind the "secret images". 

“Like clockwork, more Very Scary Satellite Images are being circulated as Iran-US indirect nuclear talks are set to resume,” Araghchi wrote on X.

Araghchi accused Netanyahu of trying to influence US policy through proxies. "With his credibility in tatters and exposed as a saboteur, Netanyahu... is turning to both old and new sock puppets. This time, he is using Saddam’s Iranian henchmen. They may come cheap, but hiring a literal cult only conveys utter desperation," he added.

Earlier, Iran’s mission to the United Nations rejected the Fox News report, calling it “fabricated” and accusing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) of spreading false information. "This fabricated report follows the usual pattern of the NCRI terrorist group, which produces fake reports in the form of so-called intelligence and delivers them to Western services, including in the United States," the Iranian mission said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA. "When these services realise the reports are baseless, the group then turns to Western media to amplify them," it added.

Middle East