Israeli officials Wednesday roundly denied charges by Jordan's King Abdullah II that the Jewish state was seeking to foil Amman's nuclear energy program.
Israeli officials Wednesday roundly denied charges by
Jordan
's
King Abdullah II that the Jewish state was seeking to foil
Amman
's
nuclear energy program.
"Israel supports the use of nuclear power in Jordan to meet its energy and
water needs and has never acted against the Jordanian program," an Israeli
official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israel
could
even be a potential customer for any electricity produced in
Jordan
through nuclear energy, he said.
"
Israel
has a
potential interest in purchasing electricity produced by Jordanian
reactors," he added.
Israel
's
backing for such a program was confirmed by another official.
"Every time we were consulted on this, we adopted a positive
approach," he told AFP, also declining to be named.
"The king's accusations sound (like) a hollow excuse.
"We were consulted and we always said that of course, if this was done
according to NPT regulations and supervision and everything, then fine, we have
no objection."
Israel
, the
Middle
East
's sole if undeclared nuclear power, is not a signatory to the
international Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, which regulates nuclear
activity.
Jordan
's
king levelled the accusations at
Israel
earlier Wednesday in an exclusive interview with AFP.
"Strong opposition to
Jordan
's
nuclear energy program is coming from
Israel
,"
he said.
"A Jordanian delegation would approach a potential partner, and one week
later an Israeli delegation would be there, asking our interlocutors not to
support
Jordan
's
nuclear energy bid," King Abdullah said during the interview at his
palace.
Jordan
,
which signed a peace treaty with
Israel
in
1994 and imports 95% of its energy needs, is struggling to find alternatives to
Egyptian gas, which normally covers 80% of its power needs.
Since 2011, the Egyptian gas pipeline supplying both
Israel
and
Jordan
has
been attacked by militants in Sinai 14 times, which has caused a consequent
disruption of supplies.
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