Netanyahu Claims US ‘Mini-Deal’ Won’t Stop Iranian A-Bomb, Israeli Attack

According to Iranian and Western officials, the Biden administration is holding talks with Iran to sketch out steps that could include limiting the Iranian nuclear program.

These steps would be cast as an "understanding" rather than an agreement requiring review by the US Congress, such as the 2015 accord abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump.

The Biden administration has repeatedly denied media reports about a deal, acknowledging that contacts were made to clearly convey Washington’s positions. The latest denial came from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday during a press conference.

“With regard to Iran, some of the reports that we’ve seen about an agreement on nuclear matters or, for that matter, on detainees are simply not accurate and not true,” Blinken said.

However, few are convinced that proposals about a deal are not on the table.

"It's not a wide-scope agreement, it's more like a small agreement, a memorandum of understanding, an M.O.U., and I think Israel can live with this if there is real supervision," Yuli Edelstein, head of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, told Channel 12's Meet the Press.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined comment on whether fellow Likud party member Edelstein's remarks reflected the views of the premier.

On Tuesday, before briefing the foreign affairs and defense committee, Netanyahu said in televised remarks: "Our position is clear. No agreement with Iran would obligate Israel, which will do everything required to defend itself.

"Our opposition to the deal - a return to the original (2015) deal - is working, I think."

"But there are still differences in outlook, and we do not hide these, regarding smaller agreements too. We have been stating our position clearly, both in closed and open sessions," Netanyahu said.

URANIUM ENRICHMENT

A core element of the possible understanding which remains unclear is the degree to which Iran would agree to rein in its uranium enrichment. Israeli officials in Netanyahu's circle have given potentially differing views on the issue this month.

Netanyahu's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said Israel didn't see as much "damage" in any new understanding as there was in the 2015 deal, but it was "poised" for any Iranian shift to more than 60 percent fissile purity.

"That would already be a clear acknowledgment that the uranium enrichment is for weapons needs," Hanegbi said in an interview published on Friday in newspaper Israel Hayom, referring to the 90-percent fissile purity required for a bomb.

But last week, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer - who accompanied Hanegbi to Washington talks about Iran - voiced misgivings about any "freeze" of current enrichment levels.

"It means that you reconcile with a higher level of enrichment in Iran. And we thought that was a bad idea then, and we think it's a bad idea today," he told the AJC Global Forum in Tel Aviv.

However, Israeli Channel 12 news reported that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met Thursday on the sidelines of NATO meeting in Brussels and reached understandings in the light of an emerging nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.

Having failed to revive the 2015 deal, US President Joe Biden's administration hopes to restore some limits on Iran to keep it from getting a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel and trigger a regional arms race.

Critics of a limited deal say that Iran would end up keeping the 60-percent enriched uranium, which means the status of a nuclear threshold state, while receiving financial rewards by US allowing other countries to release frozen funds and perhaps some sanctions relief.

Based on reporting by Reuters

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian welcomed the Saudi delegation on their arrival and then held talks with his Arab counterpart.

The two were going to have joint press conference when bin Farhan refused to speak under Qassem Soleimani’s picture.

Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) extra-territorial Quds Force, was killed in Baghdad along with nine others in 2020 by a drone strike ordered by former US President Donald Trump.

The Qods Force under Soleimani became deeply involved in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, setting up militant proxy militias.

After the press conference was relocated, bin Farhan said his country's relations with Iran are based on the principles of non-interference in each other's internal affairs. He added that Tehran-Riyadh cooperation is important in ensuring the safety of navigation in the region and on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

In turn, Amir-Abdollahian claimed that according to the Islamic Republic security is not the same as militarism.

According to reports, the Saudi minister may also meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who just returned from a Latin American tour.

A deal brokered by China in March ended a diplomatic rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and re-established relations following years of hostility that threatened regional stability in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon.

On June 7, Iran reopened its embassy in Saudi Arabia.

In 2016, protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in retaliation for Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, which led to Riyadh severing its ties with Tehran.

“We warned the Afghan rulers that they should train their forces and be watchful of their acts, otherwise Iran's border guards defend national interests and do not allow anyone to violate the security of borders,” said Ahmad Vahidi on Saturday.

In the past days, there were some issues, but they were dealt with forcefully to maintain security at the borders, said Vahidi who is an ex-IRGC general, wanted by Interpol for his role in the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994.

“Of course, terrorists try to abuse the tensions at borders, but they should be aware that they will be punished for their actions.”

In late May, clashes at the border over water rights claimed the lives of at least two Iranians and one Taliban soldier.

Disputes between Tehran and Kabul have risen over Taliban’s refusal to share the waters of the Helmand River in violation of a 1973 treaty.

Iran's parched eastern regions is seriously threatened if the Taliban prevent water from reaching Iran. Another Iranian official said Saturday that Kabul has agreed to allow Iranian experts examine the water reservoirs inside Afghanistan.

Earlier in May, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned the Taliban over disregarding Iran's water rights under the 1973 treaty. The Taliban rejected Raisi's apparent threat, with a former Taliban official mocking Raisi in a video that went viral.

In an editorial on Friday, WSJ said the reported deal taking shape is not what President Joe Biden promised when he embarked on talks with the Islamic Republic in early 2021.

Biden had promised a “longer and stronger” agreement, the Journal said, “Now, in a remarkable retreat, the Biden Administration is pursuing an unwritten ‚understanding‘ with Iran to get to the brink of a nuclear breakout but go no further.“

The Biden administration has denied any deals with Iran, acknowledging that contacts were made to convey US demands. The latest denial came from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday during a press conference.

“With regard to Iran, some of the reports that we’ve seen about an agreement on nuclear matters or, for that matter, on detainees are simply not accurate and not true,” Blinken said.

The WSJ says that in the deal taking shape Iran will keep all of its 60-percent enriched uranium, without clarity about international monitoring of its nuclear activities, while Tehran can break the unwritten “understanding” over any issue in the future.

The editorial also criticized a deal earlier this month that allows Iraq to release $2.7 billion of Iran’s frozen funds ostensibly for spending mainly on food imports.

"The Administration says Iran will spend the Iraqi funds only on food and medicine, as if money isn’t fungible. In reality the U.S. is freeing up billions of dollars that will finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its imperialism across the Middle East," the editorial said.

Israeli Channel 12 news reported that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met Thursday on the sidelines of NATO meeting in Brussels and reached understandings in the light of an emerging nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.

In recent weeks, multiple news outlets have reported on direct and indirect US Iranian talks on reducing tensions, a possible interim unwritten agreement to slow down Tehran’s nuclear program and release of Americans held in Iran.

The Biden administration has repeatedly denied any deals with Iran, acknowledging that contacts were made to make clear what US demands were. The latest denial came from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday during a press conference.

“With regard to Iran, some of the reports that we’ve seen about an agreement on nuclear matters or, for that matter, on detainees are simply not accurate and not true,” Blinken said.

Channel 12 news also quoted senior security officials as saying that cooperation with the United States has increased on the issue of Iran, involving the Israeli Defense forces in joint efforts.

Washington has assured Jerusalem that it will maintain its military edge over Iran, and Austin also made clear to Gallant that in addition to close cooperation over Iran, Israel will maintain a free hand to act against adversaries.

Israel has made clear that if it concludes Iran is close to obtaining nuclear weapons, it will not limit itself by any agreements the United States and others might have reached with Tehran and will take military action to stop what it sees as an existential threat.

Israeli officials and media indicate that some sort of a deal between Washington and Tehran is moving forward and that Israel will accept the general parameters of a possible agreement and will not try to foil it.

Israel’s ambassador in the US Michael Herzog was quoted as saying, “Diplomacy isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” during an event hosted by the Democratic Majority For Israel, according to Haaretz.

“As far as we’re concerned, diplomacy in and of itself, and such understandings, are not necessarily bad to the extent that they can help deescalate a situation,” Herzog said.

Iran has acknowledged diplomatic efforts behind the scenes but has been cautious in heralding any imminent deals.

Nour News, affiliated with the national security council on Friday said the White House is showing "positive signals of changing its approach toward Iran in the past few months".

Regarding reports about a possible nuclear deal, the website did not express optimism, but its claim of positive signals was an indication of some satisfaction at the security council.

‘Reformist’ media in Tehran, critical of the ruling hardliners, continued to argue for flexibility and a deal that would lift crippling US sanctions imposed since 2018 when former President Donald Trump pulled of the 2015 JCPOA accord.

Aftab News close to former President Hassan Rouhani in an article on Saturday recounted the “trillions of dollars” in damages to Iran’s economy resulting from its nuclear dispute with the West over a period of two decades.