Israel warned that the Biden government’s willingness to restart negotiations with Iran over the return to the 2015 nuclear deal “will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal,” according to a report.
“Israel remains committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and its position on the nuclear deal has not changed,” said the prime minister’s office, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“Israel believes that returning to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal. Israel is in close contact with the United States on this issue, ”he added.
On Thursday, the State Department said Washington would accept an invitation to meet with the countries that negotiated the original agreement – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran – “to discuss a diplomatic way to move forward in the Iranian nuclear program “.
“We are ready to attend if such a meeting occurs,” a US official told Reuters.
In 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from the deal three years after being brokered by the Obama administration. The deal reduced sanctions against Tehran in exchange for the country reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium needed to supply nuclear weapons.
Since withdrawing from the U.S., Iran has admitted that it violated the 2015 agreement using advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges on an underground plant.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed the deal with Iran from the beginning.
A senior European Union official said on Friday that the EU is working on organizing an informal meeting with all participants in the nuclear deal and the US.
No invitation has been sent and there is no deadline 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 U.S. sanctions must be lifted before his country considers returning to compliance with the agreement.
When sanctions are lifted, “we will then immediately reverse all corrective measures. Simple, ”said Zarif on Twitter.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was considering Washington’s offer to talk about the resumption of the nuclear deal.
“But first, they should get back to business. So, under the 2015 agreement, a mechanism to basically synchronize the steps can be discussed, ”said the official.
Tehran has set a February 23 deadline for the United States to begin reversing sanctions, otherwise it said it would take the biggest step so far to break the agreement – banning short-term inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.
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