Netanyahu after Iran strategy meeting: Nuclear agreement is worthless

Israel will not rely on efforts to return to a nuclear deal with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

“Israel isn’t pinning its hopes on an agreement with an extremist regime like [Iran]. We already saw what these agreements are worth…with North Korea,” Netanyahu said at a memorial service for the 1920 Battle of Tel Hai.

“With or without an agreement,” he added, “we will do everything so [Iran isn’t] armed with nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu referred to the story of Purim, which begins on Thursday night: “2,500 years ago, a Persian oppressor tried to destroy the Jewish people, and just as he failed then, you will fail today…We didn’t make a journey of thousands of years to return to the Land of Israel in order to allow the delusional Ayatollahs’ regime to finish the story of the rebirth of the Jewish People.”

Netanyahu’s remarks came a day after he met with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, Ambassador to the US Gilad Erdan and others, to discuss Israel’s strategy and response to the Biden administration’s attempted rapprochement with Iran.

In recent days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement with the European countries party to the 2015 Iran Deal that the US is seeking to start a dialogue with Iran and move towards a return to that agreement. Officials in Washington have called on Iran to return to compliance with the deal before the US would remove sanctions.

Officials in the meeting were split on whether Israel should advocate for the US to stay out of the Iran Deal until it can get a better, more secure agreement, or be more supportive of what US President Joe Biden’s stated plan is, to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the 2015 deal is known, and then negotiate tougher terms. Netanyahu reportedly took the first, harder line, while Gantz and Ashkenazi supported a less-confrontational approach.

As indicated by Netanyahu’s remarks, open opposition to a return to the JCPOA is still on the table.

Erdan told KAN Bet on Tuesday that rejoining “the old nuclear deal of 2015, that paves Iran’s path to an arsenal of nuclear bombs will be a mistake.

If the US returns to the JCPOA, lifting sanctions, it won’t have any leverage to convince Iran to reopen negotiations for a stricter deal, the ambassador explained.

Still, Erdan said, overall, “a diplomatic solution is always preferable to a military solution.”

“The question is whether there will be an agreement that blocks any way Iran can get a nuclear weapon,” he stated.

The officials at Monday’s meeting agreed Israel should continue its ongoing dialogue with the Biden administration rather than opt for open confrontation, as it did in former US president Barack Obama’s second term.

Erdan emphasized the importance of dialogue in an interview with Kan Bet on Tuesday.

“The new [US] administration has shown a very honest and deep will to hold organized consultations [with Israel], led by [US National Security Adviser Jake] Sullivan,” Erdan said. "Israel is in a process of full dialogue [with the Biden administration] and they are listening to our stance – the American government and also central countries in Europe.”

Israel views the E3, or European countries party to the Iran Deal – France, Germany and the UK – as more open to the Israeli position in recent months, KAN reported, due to Iran’s repeated violations of the deal’s limitations. In recent weeks, Iran announced that it would enrich uranium up to 20% and produce uranium metal, which the E3 pointed out have no credible civilian use.

As such, Israel has increased pressure on the E3 to try to talk them out of rejoining the old Iran deal, with many more discussions about Iran than usual, KAN reported.