As reports swirl of the emerging nuclear with Iran, the head of the Mossad chief Dovid Barnea has been holding meetings on the issue, and on Thursday, he harshly censured the Biden administration at a press briefing.
Barnea said that the nuclear deal that is emerging is a strategic disaster as in the long term, it will make it easier for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons – an effort that the Islamic Republic hasn’t abandoned since 2003. In fact, the deal actually gives Iran a license to obtain nuclear material that will allow it to build a bomb.
Barnea, who slammed the US for “rushing to sign an agreement which is a complete lie” believes that the Biden administration’s largest concession is staying with the current agreement – which is not longer, stronger and broader as the Americans promised. “They’re making a ‘copy-paste’ of the 2015 deal, and the only thing that has stayed the same since then is the text of the agreement,” he said. “Everything else has changed – the world has changed, the Iranians have developed their own centrifuges, the threats have changed, the technology has changed. But the deal is the same as the 2015 deal.”
“The worst thing about the deal is they made a copy-paste of the sunset clause. The next point is in 2025. This means that Iran is closer to the moment when it can enrich itself without giving explanations to anyone. It will happen in 2030 – in whatever quantity they want, as long as they give an explanation that it is not intended for nuclear weapons. And they will find explanations. In 2025 they can install as many centrifuges as they want from the advanced generation and the installation of the centrifuges is a broad, sweeping installation and as soon as they want. They can press the button that activates them, even if the Americans decide to leave the agreement in 2025.”
Barnea added that “the open files are the biggest concession by the Americans, and also the most incomprehensible because they prove that Iran had a nuclear weapons program and the IAEA didn’t receive a satisfactory explanation for the presence of the enriched uranium at the three sites they investigated. Today we know that there are sites without a satisfactory explanation, and the Americans are still ready to sign a nuclear agreement, without giving an explanation for the presence of nuclear material. It’s completely contrary to common sense.”
“The Americans say that they will demand an explanation from Iran on the day the agreement is implemented. But it doesn’t matter what they respond – first they’re signing the agreement. The agreement is terrible even if the Americans accepted some of our points. Israel is not a signatory of the agreement and we must do everything we can to protect our state and citizens and that’s what we’ll do.”
“There’s a double standard here,” Barnea emphasized. “On one hand, they’re sitting in Vienna and drawing closer to an agreement, and on the other hand, Iran is operating and sending terror operatives against the Americans, deceiving the world.”
Israeli media reported on Friday that Prime Minister Yair Lapid was caught off guard by Barnea’s harsh condemnation of the Biden administration. Although Lapid was aware that Barnea had scheduled a press briefing, the two had not coordinated his remarks. Lapid subsequently called Barnea and asked for a clarification, telling him that his comments were not in line with the talking points published by the prime minister’s office several days ago.
There's no chance of a good deal but that's not the point - it's to have any deal, like Munich
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