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Both Iran and Israel Don’t Want To Revive the Nuclear Agreement

Both Iran and Israel Don’t Want To Revive the Nuclear Agreement

An-Nahar, Lebanon, September 12

It has become clear, following the statement issued by France, Britain, and Germany, that the ongoing negotiations with Iran on a new nuclear deal have reached an impasse. At this point, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell made it clear that Iran must respond to the offer that was put on the table and either accept it or reject it. No new documents will be produced and no further negotiations will take place. The European statement issued on September 10 constituted an explicit acknowledgment that the negotiations have failed. Of course, the Iranians tried to extend the negotiations by asking for American guarantees like a commitment that the US will not leave the agreement again, as it did in 2018, when former President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. As a result, the Europeans, along with President Joe Biden’s team, realized that reviving the agreement is impossible at the present time. The Iranians are just negotiating for the sake of negotiating. The European statement cast great doubt over the possibility of reaching an agreement with Iran by stating that “given Tehran’s failure in concluding an agreement, the three countries will consult with their partners on the best way to deal with the escalation of tensions and Iran’s nuclear threats.” Two days later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that he ruled out the possibility of reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran anytime soon. Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said that the agency’s “information gap has widened and conditions are becoming more difficult,” meaning that the agency has become “blind” to what is happening inside Iran’s nuclear facilities. This behavior indicates that Iran is simply stalling the talks and trying to gain time, while the main goal is to build a nuclear bomb. In Berlin, which Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid visited in the past few days, a consensus has been reached with Israel, for the first time ever, around the conclusion that Tehran is not serious about the negotiations. The Times of Israel news site quoted a senior official who accompanied Lapid to Berlin, who said: “Most Europeans and Americans say that there will be no nuclear agreement and the current negotiations are dead.” He concluded: “There are no negotiations with Iran.” Of course, one can understand the Israeli sentiment. Israel is waging a campaign against the nuclear agreement and any attempt to revive it. Israeli officials have tried to convince their American and European counterparts that reviving the already bad agreement is a very bad step, that the need is more or less a stronger and far-reaching agreement, and that while waiting it is necessary to maintain strong sanctions against Tehran. This is an Israeli point of view. It was a source of contention with the Americans and Europeans alike. But it seems that the team appointed by the Biden Administration, whose working group on the Iran file includes a large number of experts and diplomats who worked within the same team during the days of former US President Barack Obama to reach the basic agreement of 2015, is no longer able to reach an agreement even with its enthusiastic faces for the agreement. Even Robert Malley, the official in charge of the Iran file in the White House and chief negotiator in Vienna, expresses pessimism about the Iranians’ intentions. – Ali Hamada (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)

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