Lapid’s warning as Iran deal looks to falter

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Tuesday it was too soon to know if Israel had succeeded in thwarting the emerging nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran.

Lapid, who was on a visit to the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, which houses the Israeli Air Force’s fleet of advanced F-35 fighter jets, also issued a warning.

“Israel is prepared for every threat and every scenario,” Lapid said in a brief statement in front of an F-35.

“If Iran continues to test us, it will discover Israel’s long arm and capabilities. We will continue to act on all fronts against terrorism and against those who seek to harm us,” he said.

“As [US] President [Joe] Biden and I agreed, Israel has full freedom to act as we see fit to prevent the possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear threat,” Lapid added.

At a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday, US ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides said Biden reassured Prime Minister Lapid in their phone call last week that the US “will never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon”.

According to Nides, Biden also promised Lapid that the US “will never tie Israel’s hands”.

“We understand the aggression of Iran,” he said. “[Biden] was very clear to the Prime Minister in that belief.”

Israel has been pressuring the US not to reenter the 2015 nuclear accord.

Biden took office aiming to revive the deal, which was abandoned in 2018 by his predecessor Donald Trump, who unleashed a volley of fresh sanctions on the cleric-run state.

Nides said the US wants to reach a diplomatic agreement to restore the 2015 accord limiting Iran’s nuclear program, but only under certain conditions. He added there were “many gaps” remaining between the sides, following a setback in negotiations last week that came amid predictions a deal could soon be reached.

The US said last week that Iran’s latest proposals in nuclear negotiations were “not constructive”, after the sides had seemed on the verge of reaching a deal.

A senior Israeli defence official said last month that Israel had two main issues with the potential deal: the so-called sunset clause, which would lift limitations on Iran’s nuclear program when the accord expires; and sanctions relief that would allow Iran to increase funding to its proxies.

Amid ongoing uncertainty, the past year has seen the Israel Defence Forces ramp up its efforts to prepare a credible military threat against Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

On Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog issued an urgent call to German lawmakers and world leaders to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, during an address to the German parliament at the tail end of a state visit.

Herzog warned of “dark forces of hate, led by Iran” that threatened both Israel and stability in the Middle East and pressed the international community to stand on the “right side of history”.

“The possession of weapons of mass destruction by a UN member state that calls on a daily basis for the annihilation of another UN member state is simply inconceivable,” he said.

Herzog added that a country that threatens Israel and denies the Holocaust was “ineligible for concessions, under any circumstances” and emphasised Israel’s right to defend itself.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is shepherding attempts to save the deal, said on Monday that recent exchanges left him “less confident”.

Borrell said of Iran’s latest response to an EU-drafted text last week, which hardened Tehran’s demands on Washington, “If the purpose is to close the deal quickly, it is not going to help it.”

On August 7, Borrell put forward what he called a final text to restore the 2015 accord.

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Borrell said that his “carefully balanced” text had been “well received” and that, initially, it had seemed the parties were converging on a common position.

“But the last interaction is not converging, it is diverging,” he said.

“That is very much worrisome if the process does not converge. The whole process is in danger.”

TIMES OF ISRAEL, AFP