Israel has sent a delegation to Vienna to meet with American and other officials from countries engaged in discussions on rejoining a nuclear deal with Iran.
Joshua Zarka, deputy director-general for strategic affairs at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is to lead the delegation. He will receive updates and make clear the Israeli position about a possible return to the 2015 nuclear deal, reported Axios.
On Monday, Zarka met with Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency. On Tuesday, he met with Rob Malley, the lead negotiator on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and with negotiators from Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Nuclear talks resumed last week after a 10-day break. Both sides have made limited progress since the talks got started again in November after a five-month hiatus following the election of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner, in June.
Israel has expressed concern that the United States and other world powers will make concessions to Iran that will result in a new agreement with terms worse than the original.
During his visit to Bahrain, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that “concluding an agreement with Iran constitutes a strategic mistake because this agreement will enable it to maintain its nuclear capabilities and to obtain hundreds of billions of dollars that will strengthen its terrorist machine that harms many countries in the region and in the world.”
