Iran is five years away from developing a nuclear weapon, and international talks due to restart next week will do nothing to slow it down, Israel said on Tuesday, adding it reserved the right to act to protect itself.
Israel will not be bound by a new nuclear deal with Iran, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday.
While the Israeli government opposes the U.S. return to the Iranian nuclear agreement, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Sunday he was prepared to give his backing to a “broader, stronger and longer” agreement.
Israeli national security advisor Eyal Hulata described Iran as the “most destabilizing force in the region” in remarks Sunday, warning of “unprecedented threats” facing the world if Iran succeeds in developing nuclear weapons.
Iran has increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, defying commitments made under the 2015 nuclear deal, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in its latest report.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met Monday with Rob Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, during the latter’s visit to the region, as the Biden administration works to coordinate with Mideast allies before the resumption of indirect talks with Tehran, aimed at reviving their multilateral nuclear accord.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Friday it was “astonishing” that he has had no contact with the new Iranian government over several important outstanding issues since it took office.
The US Special Representative for Iran Robert Malley is set to arrive in Israel next week ahead of the resumption of talks on the Iran nuclear deal, Hebrew media reported on Thursday.
Iran began its annual war games on Sunday, less than a month ahead of a planned return to talks with Western powers about resuscitating the 2015 nuclear deal.
Israel will do what is necessary to protect itself against the Iranian existential threat, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday, as world powers are expected to hold November 29 talks in Vienna with Tehran on the renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran should consider any nuclear deal inked by the Biden administration as dead on arrival when Republicans retake control of Congress, the party’s foreign policy leaders told the Washington Free Beacon.
The US is in full agreement with its allies on bringing Iran back into compliance with the nuclear deal, including willingness to look at “all of the options necessary” if diplomacy doesn’t work, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday.
The United States has confirmed that on Saturday it flew a B-1B strategic bomber over the Red Sea, and over the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, Voice of America (VOA) reports. The B-1B Lancer bomber was accompanied by fighter jets from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and also flew over Egypt’s Suez Canal.
Despite Iran’s repeated assertions that it is ready to start another round of talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, Israel Hayom has learned that the assessment in Jerusalem is that this is nothing more than an Iranian tactic aimed at buying time.
Efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are at a “critical phase” and Tehran’s reasons for avoiding talks are wearing thin, a U.S. official said Monday while raising the possibility of further diplomacy even if the deal cannot be resuscitated.
The Israeli Air Force will begin practicing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear program beginning next year, having set aside funding and updated its training schedule for the mission, The Times of Israel has learned.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iranian non-cooperation means that the organization’s ongoing oversight of the country’s nuclear program is “no longer intact” in an interview with NBC News aired Saturday.
The head of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog plans to visit Iran before the end of next month, amid questions about whether Iran will return to negotiations aimed at reviving the languishing 2015 nuclear deal.
The United States and Israel have announced they are considering alternative options for dealing with Iran in the event the Islamic regime refuses to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal and comply with the limits on uranium enrichment set out in the 2015 agreement, AP reports. After former president Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, the Islamic regime began enriching uranium to levels exceedingly far above the amount agreed to in the deal.
As Iran signaled its intention to return to nuclear talks in Vienna, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid took off from Ben Gurion International Airport overnight Monday for a three-day visit to Washington DC to meet with senior Biden administration officials, Jewish leaders, and the UAE foreign minister.