Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has reaffirmed Israel’s opposition to negotiations on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran during a meeting with visiting U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan told Bennett on December 22 the United States and Israel were at a “critical juncture” on various security issues and should develop a joint strategy.
Sullivan’s trip comes as negotiators report that talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the deal are moving at a slow pace, while the United States has voiced concerns that the time required for Iran to develop nuclear weapons has become “unacceptably short.”
Bennett’s office said in a statement that he and Sullivan discussed Iran and the efforts by world powers to renew the deal.
Israel has repeatedly criticized the talks in Vienna to restore the deal. The latest round of talks aimed at salvaging the accord between Iran and world powers adjourned on December 17. They are to resume next week.
“What happens in Vienna has profound ramifications for the stability of the Middle East and the security of Israel for the upcoming years,” Bennett told Sullivan.
Bennett has called for the negotiations to be halted, accusing Iran of “nuclear blackmail.”
President Isaac Herzog also voiced his “concern with Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons under the cover of the negotiations in Vienna” during his meeting with Sullivan on December 21, the president’s office said.
Washington withdrew from the accord in 2018 and Iran resumed many of its nuclear activities that it had agreed to halt or limit. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons.
President Joe Biden has expressed interest in rejoining the agreement if Iran returns to full compliance.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters last week that Washington believes Iran’s breakout time to producing enough highly enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon is now “really short” and alarming.
The anonymous official did not give a precise time frame for the breakout, which has been estimated to be several months.
“But it’s really short. It is unacceptably short,” the official said, calling it “alarming.”
Sullivan is also scheduled to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank.
