U.S. Foreign Policy
“I call on every country negotiating with Iran ... to make it clear that it is impossible to negotiate and enrich uranium at the same time,” says Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The Institute for Science and International Security said that if Iran “mothballs its advanced centrifuges rather than destroys them, breakout timelines will only be five to six months.”
International Atomic Energy Agency: The Islamic Republic has started producing enriched uranium with advanced centrifuges.
“I think the Israelis and policymakers need to pivot to give Israel the tools it needs because however this plays out in Vienna, deal or no deal … I think the Israelis feel they have the clock ticking louder and louder, and they have to prepare,” said JINSA president and CEO Michael Makovsky.
While the P5+1 debates in Vienna, “Iran could be positioning itself so close to making nuclear weapons that if Tehran chose to break out, countries mighty be deterred from intervening,” said Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The Iranians are “very close” to nuclear breakout, says OC Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie • IAEA head says “no progress” was made on his trip to Tehran.
Israel has invested “strategic-level” resources but achieved only “tactical” results, says the Israeli premier.
“The hold on Lipstadt’s confirmation must be lifted quickly so she may assume the post and commence this important work,” wrote B’nai B’rith president Charles Kaufman and CEO Dan Mariaschin in a statement.
Crowds gather across Iran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and burning American and Israeli flags.
“We welcome the E.U.’s announcement that they have coordinated with all participants, and that talks on a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA will resume,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and France express their “grave and growing concern” that Iran has “accelerated the pace of provocative nuclear steps.”
International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi warns that though there’s “no indication” Tehran is racing for a bomb, the case of North Korea “should remind us of what may happen if diplomatic efforts go wrong.”
