Iranian media says alleged document trove points to Israel-IAEA collusion

Iranian state media began releasing images of what it said were documents related to Israel's nuclear program obtained by Tehran and said they demonstrated collusion between the United Nations nuclear agency and arch-foe Israel.

"The first set of documents obtained from the Israeli regime shows that Grossi, the Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had full cooperation and close coordination with this regime and fully implemented its orders," the Tasneem news agency wrote on X.

The outlet, which is affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, included images of email exchanges in Hebrew and and what appeared to be a printed letter from Meirav Zafary-Odiz, Israel's ambassador to the IAEA, to its now chief Raphael Grossi.

Dated 2016, the alleged letter requests a meeting.

Other documents appeared to be email exchanges between Zafary-Odiz and an Israeli academic using an University of Washington email address and focused on panel discussions on nuclear topics.

Iran's intelligence ministry said last week it had obtained a trove of sensitive material from Israel, including documents it says are related to the Jewish state's nuclear and strategic facilities.

Israeli security experts cast doubt on the assertion, saying it was likely part of a state attempt to sway opinion as US-Iran nuclear talks enter a critical phase.

Amir Rashidi, director of cyber security and digital rights of the Iran-focused human rights NGO the Miaan Group, said the documents released on Thursday appeared dubious.

"There are several red flags that raise questions about the authenticity and origin of these materials," he wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

Their presentation as screenshots impairs verification through metadata and timestamps, pages are numbered in Persian-Arabic script and Iranian hackers' past compromising of academic accounts makes the university email address suspect, Rashidi said.