Israel fears US will settle for ‘less for less’ Iran nuclear deal – report

Israel fears the United States will settle for a “less for less” nuclear deal with Iran, a senior Israeli official told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, before negotiations resume next week in Vienna.

Israel, which fiercely opposed the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by former US President Barack Obama, waged a campaign of sabotage against Iran and threatened military action. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett indicated that Israel was ready to break away from the United States and other allies to take action against Iran, if necessary.

The United States has also warned that military action is possible if Iran is on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon.

“Israel is very concerned that the United States is preparing the ground for what it calls a ‘less for less’ deal,” the senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Such an agreement would be detrimental and would only benefit the Iranian regime. “

“Such an agreement will convince the Iranian public and the countries of the region that nuclear blackmail works,” the official added. “It looks like the United States could get a good deal with Iran. “

The warning came after a senior US general said Iran had the capacity to build a nuclear weapon in a very short period of time and that the US military was ready with other options to prevent this in the event of a failure of diplomacy.

General Kenneth McKenzie, Commander of the United States Central Command, listens during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, September 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Stefani Reynolds / The New York Times via AP, Pool)

“Our president said they were not going to have a nuclear weapon,” General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, told TIME magazine in comments on Wednesday. “The diplomats are leading on this point, but the central command always has a variety of plans that we could execute, if we command it. “

While other US officials have spoken in recent days of “other options” if efforts to bring Iran back to the nuclear deal fail, McKenzie is even clearer about discussing a military option.

McKenzie, the top US commander in the Middle East, said he believes Tehran has not currently made the decision to go ahead with building a real warhead, but is putting itself in a position where he could do it in a very short time.

“They’re very close this time around,” McKenzie said. “I think they like the idea of ​​being able to thrive.”

Reports in recent days have indicated that the United States and Israel believe Iran has made enough progress on its illegal enrichment program that it can build a nuclear weapon in weeks to months, if it chooses. to do.

In this image taken from April 17, 2021, video broadcast by the State Television of the Islamic Republic of Iran, IRIB, various centrifuges line the damaged room on Sunday April 11, 2021 at the uranium enrichment facility from Natanz, some 200 miles (322 km) south of the capital Tehran. (IRIB via AP, File)

The UN nuclear watchdog told member countries in its confidential quarterly report last week that Iran has an estimated stockpile of 17.7 kilograms (39 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60. % fissile purity, an increase of nearly 8 kilograms since August. Highly enriched uranium is only a short technical step away from becoming military grade.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken of “other options”, although US negotiator for the JCPOA talks, Rob Malley, in an interview with US broadcaster NPR, made it clear that the US was thinking ahead. everything to economic pressure.

Nonetheless, Malley warned that Washington would “stand idly by” if Iran delays progress on the talks.

“Yes [Iran] continues to do what it appears to be doing now, which is dragging its feet at the nuclear diplomatic table and picking up its pace on its nuclear program… we will have to react accordingly, ”said Malley.

(Left to right) IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, CENTCOM Commander Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., and Defense Minister Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv, January 29, 2021 (Ariel Hermoni /Department of Defense)

Also on Wednesday, the UN nuclear watchdog said there had been “no progress” in talks with Tehran over disputes over monitoring Iran’s atomic program just days before. the resumption of talks on the relaunch of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a quarterly meeting of the agency’s board that the talks he held in Tehran on Tuesday were not “inconclusive” although they are “constructive”.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told Iranian television that his team “tried until the last moment” but there is still work to be done.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi addresses the media at a press conference regarding the agency’s oversight of Iran’s nuclear energy program at the International Center in Vienna, Austria on Monday, June 7, 2021 (AP Photo / Lisa Leutner)

Iran will resume talks in Vienna with world powers after a five-month hiatus following the election of an ultra-conservative president, Ebrahim Raisi.

The deal has gradually disintegrated since former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018.

The following year, Iran retaliated by starting to move away from its commitments under the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

The negotiations are proceeding indirectly, with an EU envoy shuttling between Malley and the Iranian delegation, refusing to meet the US representative face to face.

Iran has called for all sanctions to be lifted, but the Biden administration said it was only discussing measures imposed by Trump as part of the withdrawal from the nuclear deal, including a sweeping unilateral ban on states- United with respect to all other nations buying Iran’s main oil export.

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