Participating in a session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that Israel would not be bound by any nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the US.
“Our position is clear: No agreement with Iran will be binding on Israel, which will continue to do everything to defend itself. Our opposition to a return to the original agreement, I think it is working, but there are still differences of outlook and we do not hide them, also about smaller agreements. We enunciate our policy clearly both openly and in closed rooms.”
The Prime Minister was referring to Iran’s confirmation on Monday that it was holding indirect talks with the U.S. through Oman.
“Of course, this is being challenged by the rise of the new power in the region, which has completely replaced the Arab world in hostility to Israel and aspires to our destruction, and this is Iran. Over 90% of our security problems stem from Iran and its proxies, and our policy is aimed at increasing the circle of peace, to stop Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said.
“With one hand we are working to stop Iran and with the other we are working energetically to expand the circle of peace. These pose major challenges and great opportunities for us.”
The controversial Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015 promised Iran economic incentives in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. Former president Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in 2018. Negotiating a return to the nuclear agreement has been a key foreign policy goal of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Israel, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia oppose an American return to the JCPOA agreement.
While uranium needs to be only 3.67% pure to generate nuclear power, Iran has enriched its uranium stockpile to 60% and possibly higher, a degree of purity that no country without an atomic weapon has ever pursued. A nuclear bomb requires uranium to be enriched to 90% purity.
