A dispute erupted over who Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu blamed for progress in Iran’s nuclear program.
“What if and when the US will return to the nuclear deal? Does anyone think it would agree with Israel’s military actions that would jeopardize the deal? Netanyahu wrote.
The opposition leader said his “friends in America” expressed concern that Israel’s voice was not heard in the US in opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.
“The answer is straightforward. The surrender government explicitly states, ‘We will solve problems with America behind closed doors,'” Netanyahu wrote. Instead of speaking out against it in a loud and clear voice, the present government is not doing anything.”
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A source in the prime minister’s office said Netanyahu “was prime minister for 12 years until a month ago, and his neglect allowed Iran to reach the most advanced point ever in its nuclear program.”
Last week, Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had taken steps to produce 20% enriched uranium metal to be used as reactor fuel. This brings Iran’s nuclear project to a more advanced stage than any country without nuclear weapons is known.
A source close to Bennett said that “It’s Bennett’s legacy, and from here on out, he’ll navigate and fix it with all the tools he has.”
“This is a serious failure,” he said. Netanyahu “knows this and is trying to pass the responsibility on to others.”
The PMO source accused Netanyahu of preferring to deliver speeches with props as part of his Israeli election campaign rather than taking significant action.
“The gap between rhetoric and action has never been greater,” the source said, echoing a comment made by Bennett in the Knesset earlier this week.
The agreement, which restricted Iran’s uranium enrichment and gradually lifted US sanctions on Iran, is due to expire in 2030 and allow Iran to opt out of nuclear weapons. The Trump administration left the JCPOA in 2018 instead of heavy sanctions to pressure Iran, but the Biden administration began talks with Iran in April in Vienna to return to the deal.
The sixth round of indirect US-Iran talks ended in early June ahead of the presidential election in Iran. Ibrahim Raisi, the judge responsible for thousands of executions and a US-approved judge for human rights violations, won the election.
The date for the resumption of talks, and whether Raisi will choose to continue at all, is unclear.
Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Kommersant this week, “to date, no one, including the Iranians, has an answer” on when talks will continue.