The Israeli government is “spooked” by the possibility that the Biden Administration might revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which then-President Donald Trump pulled the US out of in 2018. This fear comes in the aftermath of the IAEA closing the books on at least one of three open investigations into traces of highly enriched uranium found at different sites in Iran, which the Israelis are convinced prove the existence of an Iranian bomb program.
Last year, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said in no uncertain terms that closing IAEA investigations into nuclear particles found at suspected nuclear sites was a prerequisite to reviving the JCPOA, noted the Times of Israel. The IAEA’s conclusion that the particles may be leftover from mining at the site decades earlier, as Iran had argued, won few buyers in Israel, which insinuated that the UN watchdog could no longer be trusted after selling out to meet Iran’s demands.
“We are extremely disappointed by the damage done to the IAEA’S professional standing,” an Israeli official told the Times of Israel on Friday, one day after Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat accused IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi of “yielding” to Iranian political pressure. Haiat warned that the watchdog had “severely damage[d]” its credibility.
“I hear all the reports about Iran, so I have a sharp, clear message for Iran and the international community: Israel will do what it must to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a short video message Thursday.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also responded to what his office called “recent developments regarding the Iranian nuclear issue.” “The dangers facing the State of Israel are intensifying and we may be required to fulfill our duty in order to protect the integrity of Israel and especially the future of the Jewish people,” he told an Israel Defense Forces officer promotion ceremony Thursday.
Axios reported this week that White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was in Oman this month to discuss with Muscat the possibility of them bringing the Iranians back to the table.
