Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday asked the United States and the European Union to find other alternatives to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Citing an undisclosed high-ranking Israeli official, the newspaper said that Lapid had spoken with American and European officials and demanded a halt to the nuclear negotiations following Iran’s refusal to accept the EU’s final draft.
According to the Israeli official who spoke to the Haaretz newspaper, “It is time to sit down and talk about the next steps.”
This official added: Israel does not adhere to any specific agreement and will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and also to prevent Iran from using its terrorist groups in the region, and the United States knows this and Recognizes “
Pointing out that Iran has not provided reliable explanations regarding the investigation files of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which have been opened on the suspicion of violating the agreement, he said: This should shine a bright red light in the international community.
Israel’s national security adviser, Eyal Helata, is expected to travel to the United States next week to avoid talks with officials on the matter.
Israeli officials said this week that the European text includes guarantees that sanctions will not be reimposed on Iran for the duration of the deal, removing obstacles for foreign companies that would otherwise refuse to invest in or trade with Iran. slow down
While the European Union was hoping for a clear “yes or no” answer from Iran, Israel considers Tehran’s statements about the final text as an attempt to drag the parties into another round of negotiations.
A senior Israeli official warned of such a possibility last week and said: Israel hopes that the forces will not allow the Iranians to continue delaying and realize that the Iranians are not looking for an agreement.
Israeli officials are concerned that the European Union will accept one of Iran’s main demands: the closure of open IAEA investigations against Iran. But the U.S. is unlikely to back down on its pledge not to shut down the investigation, the sources said.
A 2015 agreement between Tehran and six major international powers allowed for the lifting of sanctions against Iran in exchange for curtailing its nuclear activities and guaranteeing the peace of its program. However, the United States unilaterally withdrew under its predecessor, Donald Trump, and reimposed heavy sanctions on the country, which responded by beginning to gradually back away from most of its commitments.
Iran and the powers associated with this agreement (France, Great Britain, Germany, Russia and China) started negotiations in April 2021 to revive it, which was suspended for the first time in June of the same year. After resuming in November, it was suspended again in mid-March, with points of disagreement between Washington and Tehran, despite significant progress toward reaching an understanding.
On Monday, Tehran sent its response to the “final text” it had submitted to the European Union and Washington as part of efforts to revive the nuclear deal, official Iranian media confirmed.
IRNA Sahargah news agency reported on Tuesday: The Islamic Republic of Iran submitted its written response to the text proposed by the European Union and announced that an agreement will be reached if the American response is realistic and flexible.
IRNA did not provide details of this answer, but announced that the rest of the disputes “are about three issues, in which America has expressed its verbal flexibility in two cases, but it should be included in the text” and the third case is related to “three issues Is. Guaranteeing the continuation of the implementation of the JCPOA (the official name of the agreement) which depends on the realism of the United States to provide (answer to) Iran’s opinion.
“Haaretz” newspaper reported that Iran’s response to the final text presented by the European Union has set three conditions.
The first condition is that despite President Joe Biden’s personal announcement that the United States will keep it on this list, the first condition is to ask Iran to remove all sanctions imposed on it, including the removal of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from Delist the United States as a terrorist organization.
The second demand is the closure of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency’s investigation into the nuclear sites, which the Israeli newspaper described as “dubious”.
The third condition was that the United States would guarantee that it would not withdraw from the agreement again, thereby guaranteeing against the reimposition of sanctions that had been lifted.
According to Haaretz, the requirement is intended to allow Tehran to rebuild its economy in the long term and provide a “safe net” for international companies that wish to do business with Iran but fear future sanctions.
Source: Lebanon Debate
