Israel has warned that the readiness of the Biden administration to resume negotiations with Iran on the reunification of the 2015 nuclear deal “will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal,” according to a report.
“Israel remains committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and its position on the nuclear deal has not changed,” the prime minister’s office said, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“Israel believes that a return to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal. Israel is in close contact with the United States in this regard, “he added.
On Thursday, the State Department said Washington would accept an invitation to meet with the countries that negotiated the initial agreement – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran – “to discuss a diplomatic path to follow.” Iran’s nuclear program. “
“We are ready to present ourselves if such a meeting takes place,” a US official told Reuters.
In 2018, the Trump administration dropped the deal three years after it was brokered by the Obama administration. The agreement reduced sanctions against Tehran in exchange for the country reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium needed to supply nuclear weapons.
Since withdrawing from the US, Iran has acknowledged that it has violated the 2015 agreement by using advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium in an underground factory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed Iran’s agreement from the beginning.
A senior EU official said on Friday that the EU was working to hold an informal meeting with all participants in the nuclear deal and the US.
No invitations have been sent and there is no time frame for the meeting, but world powers want to revive the nuclear deal as soon as possible, the official added, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said US sanctions must be lifted before his country can consider returning to compliance.
When the sanctions are lifted, “we will immediately reverse all remedial measures. Simple, “Zarif said on Twitter.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was considering Washington’s offer to talk about relaunching the nuclear deal.
“But first you have to get back to business. Then, within the 2015 agreement, we can discuss a mechanism for synchronizing the steps “, said the official.
Tehran has set a deadline of February 23 for the US to start lifting sanctions, otherwise it has said it will take the biggest step so far to violate the agreement – banning short-sighted inspections by the US nuclear surveillance body UN.
With Post threads