WarSclerotic

First round of bilateral strategic talks described as ‘very positive’; second meeting to be held soon, on Iranian regional activities, missiles

By TOI STAFF17 March 2021, 10:11 pm  2

Israeli National Security Council chairman Meir Ben-Shabbat (right), and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. (Flash90, AP)

Israeli and US officials agreed to set up a joint team for sharing intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program during recent strategic talks, according to a report Wednesday.

Last week’s talks were the first held by a bilateral group for cooperating in the effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. The meeting was led by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat.

Citing three senior Israeli officials, the Axios news site reported that Israel’s initial objective was to get on the same page with the Biden administration concerning intelligence on Iran. The officials said they were satisfied by the first round of discussions.

“We are on the same page on the intelligence. There are small nuances but overall, they see data the same way. It was very positive, but it is only the beginning of a process. It will be a rollercoaster,” one of the officials was quoted saying.

Sullivan pledged to the Israelis the US would be transparent about any decisions regarding Iran and said he expects transparency in return, according to the officials, who also said the American national security adviser was upfront about the difficulties of engaging in diplomacy with Iran.

The Israeli officials also said they hoped Iran would continue to rebuff US entreaties and that the pain of American sanctions would lead the Iranians to first offer concessions.

A second meeting dealing with Iran’s regional activities and missile program will be held in the coming weeks, the officials added.

Then-US vice president Joe Biden, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, talk before a dinner at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner, Pool)

A similar working group convened during former US president Barack Obama’s first term in office. Its existence was not public, and the sides used the meetings to share intelligence on Iran. However, the group ceased meeting as the Obama administration ramped up efforts to reach an agreement with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely and publicly opposed that deal — which was signed in 2015, when President Joe Biden was vice president — contributing to a famously acrimonious relationship between himself and Obama.

Former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and put punishing sanctions on Iran. Trump’s Middle East policies were largely in line with Netanyahu’s. Biden and his administration have repeatedly said they will return to the JCPOA if Tehran first returns to compliance. Iran has insisted the US remove sanctions before it returns to the deal’s terms, putting the two sides at a stalemate.

Seeking to avoid public spats this time around, Washington offered to reestablish the working group with Israel, which, after deliberation by Netanyahu with other senior officials, agreed to it, an official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

Technicians work at the Arak heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit, as officials and media visit the site, near Arak, 150 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, December 23, 2019. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)

In recent months, Iran has repeatedly taken steps to violate the deal and turn up the heat on the US, including by enriching uranium past the accord’s limits and barring UN inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have already begun voicing opposition to the Biden administration’s desire to rejoin the deal, putting Jerusalem and Washington at odds on the issue. Some leading Israeli officials in recent months have warned of military action to halt Iran’s nuclear program.READ 

IDF chief tells French president that Lebanon has been taken ‘captive’ by Hezbollah and that Israel has ‘thousands of targets picked out’ in case of need for retaliation

By TOI STAFF and AFP18 March 2021, 9:29 pm  1

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and President Reuven Rivlin wave at the Elysee Palace in Paris on March 18, 2021. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)

Standing alongside President Reuven Rivlin, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged Iran to stop aggravating the already grave crisis over its nuclear program by multiplying violations of the 2015 deal with world powers.

“Iran must stop worsening the nuclear situation that is already serious by accumulating violations of the Vienna accord,” Macron said during a joint press conference at the Elysee Palace with Rivlin, currently on a European tour to discuss the Iranian threat.

“Iran must make the expected gestures and behave in a responsible manner,” Macron said.

Rivlin’s three-day trip to Germany, France, and Austria comes as the UN’s nuclear watchdog is working to save the 2015 agreement. Germany and France are both signatories to the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a joint press conference with President Reuven Rivlin, after a working lunch, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on March 18, 2021. (Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

After its withdrawal from the pact in 2018, the US reapplied strict sanctions on Iran, which responded by stepping away from its own commitments to the deal, in particular by ramping up uranium enrichment, a key process in producing a nuclear weapon.

The new administration of US President Joe Biden has said it is prepared to reenter the nuclear deal and start lifting sanctions against Iran if it returns to full compliance. But Tehran rejected that precondition, pressing on with increasing nuclear work in retaliation for the sanctions.

“France is fully mobilized for a relaunch of a credible process to find a solution to this crisis,” Macron said Thursday. “This means returning to a control and supervision of the Iranian nuclear program while also integrating a control of Iran’s ballistic activity in the region.”

Rivlin, who is traveling with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, has underscored the threat from Iran’s nuclear program in his meetings with Austrian and German leaders earlier in the week.President Reuven Rivlin (L) arrives in Germany at the beginning of a diplomatic trip to Europe, joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Meeting with Macron after Rivlin, Kohavi told the French president that Lebanon has been taken “captive” by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group.

“Hezbollah today has hundreds of thousands of missiles and rockets located that are in the heart of civilian populations and are deliberately aimed at harming Israeli citizens. The IDF will do everything to prevent this,” Kohavi said to Macron, according to an Israel Defense Forces statement.

The IDF chief warned that Israel has thousands of targets picked out in Lebanon.

“We won’t hesitate to attack forcefully,” Kohavi said.IDF Chief Staff Aviv Kohavi (left), with France’s President Emmanuel Macron (2nd right) and President Reueven Rivlin (right), in Paris on March 18, 2021 (Amos Ben Gershom, GPO)

He also said that Lebanon is responsible for what happens within its borders and will bear “full responsibility” for any Hezbollah attack on Israel.