TEHRAN - Just a few days after the Israeli prime minister bragged that Iran “must face a credible nuclear threat,” the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has said that Tehran has the right to respond to Israel’s “arrogance”.

Speaking on Monday at the 67th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Mohammad Eslami said that there is no question that the international community’s silence has given the Israeli regime more confidence.

“It is clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its right to respond to the audacities of the Zionist regime,” he added.

In his address to the 78th UN General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the “curse of a nuclear Iran” and claimed that Tehran has spent “billions to arm its terror proxies.”

“Iran must face a credible nuclear threat. As long as I’m prime minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu’s speech received vitriol by Iran's diplomatic mission to the UN as a “comedy show”. It said in a statement that “the baseless allegations made by Israeli officials no longer fool anyone.”

Eslami added that the United Nations Charter and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Statute have been broken by Israel’s threats against Iran’s nuclear experts.

As the initiator of the nuclear-weapon-free-zone plan in West Asia, Iran is concerned about the Israeli regime’s covert nuclear military development, the nuclear chief pointed out.

“Unfortunately, the Zionist regime has not placed its nuclear program under the safeguards agreement, and thus it is considered a threat to international peace and security,” he said, adding that Israel has jeopardized the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the IAEA’s integrity and credibility.

With 200–400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal and a deliberate strategy of ambiguity regarding its nuclear arsenal, Israel is the sole owner of non-conventional weapons in West Asia.

However, the regime has resisted signing the NPT and allowing inspections of its military nuclear sites.

Additionally, Israel has carried out several nuclear facility sabotage operations and assassinated at least seven Iranian nuclear scientists.