Mossad chief 'warns' US officials against signing Iran nuclear deal
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Lapid's government continues to pressure Washington against signing the nuclear deal.
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Mossad chief, David Barnea.
As part of Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's pressure campaign to deter the United States from signing a nuclear deal with Iran, chief of Mossad David Barnea warned his US counterparts against signing the deal following his meeting in Washington.
Barnea, on his trip, met with the heads of the CIA, FBI, the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and senior officials from the US State Department.
Read more: US not concerned with Lapid's stance on nuclear deal: Israeli media
Barnea presented "sensitive intelligence materials" and asserted that "Israel" "will not be able to stand idly by while Iran continues to deceive the world," according to a statement from Lapid's office. In response, Washington assured "Israel" that it will remain "committed" to its security.
“The Americans emphasized that they will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and that they will continue to act in full cooperation with ["Israel"] with regards to regional issues in the Middle East concerning the security of ["Israel"],” the statement continued.
Jake Sullivan, who met with Barnea, declined to provide any details about the visit, except that the two discussed "a range of global and regional issues."
Recently, Israeli officials have been spending a considerable amount of time with the US and European states in an attempt to pressure them not to sign the deal with Iran.
The original nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which involved major European powers, Russia, China and the US, was scrapped by former US president Donald Trump in 2018. The deal lifts some sanctions on Iran while also standardizing the level of uranium enrichment to keep it below the required level to build a nuclear bomb, despite Tehran’s continuous denial of seeking nuclear weapons and insistence that it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only.
The new deal being worked on would lift sanctions off 17 Iranian banks, and 150 economic entities. Upon signing the deal, Iran would immediately resume its normal nuclear activities.
“Israel” leads campaign to prevent US from signing nuclear deal
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said “Israel” will continue to add pressure on the US not to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, but not to the point of causing a diplomatic crisis.
“The correct policy is the one that we have been leading in the past year: To continue the pressure, without causing a rupture, to present credible intelligence, to be part of the process without destroying the special relationship with the US,” Lapid said.
Read more: 'Israel' worried of nuclear deal with benefits to Iran
Washington has not released a statement regarding Lapid's notes nor did it promise any guarantees in its upcoming dealing with the JCPOA revival.
On the other hand, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stressed last week that "Our peaceful nuclear capability is our right, and no one can obstruct Iran from preserving this right," adding that "the Zionist entity never wanted it [Iran] to obtain the technology, but it got it against their will."
He stressed that "all the Zionist entity's threats and measures will be helpless in stopping our path, and the entity is aware that it is unable to confront us; its threats reflect its fear," advising "Israel" not to launch any aggression because it "may no longer exist [as a result]."
