There is grave concern in Israel that the US and the West will try to reach a partial settlement with Iran, which will be even more limited than the original nuclear agreement from 2015.
One of the scenarios presented in recent days' discussions is that the Biden administration will be content with a deal that includes only two components: the removal of sanctions by the international community, in exchange for stopping only uranium enrichment.
"The most urgent thing"
Such an outline means, among other things, that there is no dismantling of Iran's advanced enrichment infrastructure, no spending of the 25 kilograms already enriched and no dealing with Iran's nuclear program and its regional aggression.
Such a one-point agreement also does not meet the administration's early commitment to reach a "stronger and longer-term" agreement with Iran.
The assessment that the West will strive for a limited agreement with Iran is based on messages conveyed to Jerusalem in recent days, which state that "first of all, the Iranians' urgent enrichment race must be stopped. This is the most urgent thing."
Haberdashery, Photo: AP - Archive
Israel has a difficult division with the Americans regarding their insistence on reaching an agreement with Iran at all costs.
As a symbolic step towards Israeli resistance, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will refrain from meeting the US envoy for Iranian affairs, Rob Mali, who will arrive in Israel today.
Mali is leading the Biden administration's conciliatory line towards the ayatollahs regime, recently saying that "the diplomatic window on Iran will never be closed".
His visit to the country will last two days, after which he will continue to other countries in the region.
Mali will meet with senior officials in the National Security Council, the Foreign Ministry and the intelligence community, but as mentioned - not with Bennett.
Mali, Photo: AP
An official told Israel Today that "Israel in no way wants to show or be seen as giving legitimacy to the renewed talks with Iran at the end of the month. Let it not sound like there is an Israeli road blessing."
Meanwhile, the head of Iran's official news agency, Ali Nadri, said that $ 3.5 billion in frozen Iranian assets had been thawed in recent weeks by a country whose name he did not name.
Some of the amount has already flowed into the Iranian market.
Do not hang hopes
As you may recall, the Iranian foreign minister has stated that his country requires a compromise of $ 10 billion before the start of nuclear talks.
Commentators in the West estimate that the transfer of the thawed Iranian assets has led to their agreement to return to nuclear talks with the powers.
Iran, the United States and the superpowers are expected to resume negotiations on the nuclear deal in Vienna in two weeks. New or return to the original agreement from 2015.
Biden, Photo: API
Israel knows that if it had been up to the United States, an agreement would have been signed long ago and on almost every condition. Only the strict conditions set by Iran are the ones that thwart the agreement.
Between 2015 and 2022
Bennett's position, as also expressed in his talks with world leaders in Glasgow, is that a return to the agreement is fundamentally wrong.
At the professional level in the country, it is also believed that in light of Iran's very significant progress in the nuclear program, it is highly doubtful whether the terms of the original nuclear agreement from 2015 are still relevant to 2022.
Bennett, Photo: Mark Israel Salem
