Several Israeli Security Experts Voice Concerns over Vienna Talks
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"Israel" is anxiously awaiting the Vienna talks ahead of their 7th round on Monday, and sees that targeting nuclear facilities will be necessary if the agreement is signed.
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The 7th round of the Vienna talks will begin on Monday
The director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Alon Ushpiz, is concerned, according to Haaretz.
Ushpiz believes that the JCPOA "is a bad agreement that legitimizes a military nuclear program that the Iranians have no intention of retreating from." He adds that “there should be no return to the JCPOA. I’m not certain it will even be relevant two months from now,” because if the talks fail, then Iran will be inside "what is considered a threshold state."
Ushpiz called on the international community to "adopt a different plan of action" that would be firmer and "more forceful" against Iran, such as imposing harsh sanctions and demanding that Iran "retreat from its nuclear ambitions," while simultaneously "threatening a significant military operation if it fails to cooperate."
Strikes ‘must be on the table’
"Israel's" concern of the US return to the nuclear deal, signed between Iran and the P5+1 in 2015, could also be seen in Israeli expert assessments, including ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, who told Ynet news that "independent strikes on nuclear sites, if Iran takes this path that endangers our existence, should and must be on the table — unequivocally."
Ram Ben-Barak, former Deputy Director of the Mossad and currently the chairman of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said that if world powers agree on a deal similar to the 2015 accord, it would not prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear threshold state.
“This is unacceptable for Israel. We are warning the Americans against this and telling them that we will not put up with it,” Ben-Barak told IOF Radio.
Yadlin: "The Iranians are not suckers"
The former head of "Israel’s" Military Intelligence, Amos Yadlin, warned on his part that Iran’s breakout time to a nuclear bomb will be greatly reduced if there is a return to the JCPOA, as a result of the progress Tehran made in enriching uranium since former president Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 at "Israel's" behest.
Yadlin blasted the previous Netanyahu government for encouraging Trump to withdraw from the JCPOA without planning for Iran's response.
“The problem started in 2018. If someone fell asleep on guard duty in 2015 [when the deal was signed], then they left the watchtower entirely in 2018,” Yadlin said. “Because when Israel convinced Trump to leave the agreement — the Iranians are not suckers. It was clear that either they would leave the agreement or they would violate it, and there should’ve been a plan formulated for what we would do then."
