Prime Minister Yair Lapid harshly criticizes the European Union and the Western countries as a whole that deal with Iran. According to him, if an agreement is signed for Iran’s return to the original nuclear agreement, it will be a reward of 100 billion dollars a year for violating all their commitments, and this is money that will go to terrorism.
In a conversation with foreign reporters, Lapid said that “Israel is not against any agreement but against this agreement, because it is a bad agreement. Because it cannot be accepted as it is written now. In our view, it does not meet the standards that President Biden has set: to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state.” . The Prime Minister clarified that Israel maintains an open dialogue with the American administration on all the issues in dispute. But if the agreement is signed, it does not bind Israel, “we will work to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state, we will not let that happen.”
According to Lapid, “A week ago, Europe offered Iran what they called the ‘last offer’ to return to the nuclear agreement. They announced that this offer was take it or leave it. The Iranians, as always, did not say ‘no’, they said ‘yes, But’, and passed their own draft with amendments and additional demands. Since then there has been a discussion about it. Once again the Iranians raise demands, and again the negotiators are ready to make more and more concessions, again. This is not the first time. The Western countries set a red line, the Iranians ignore it , so the red line is moved.”
The Prime Minister added that this is a bad agreement: “If the Iranians didn’t take it, how come the world didn’t leave it? What is currently on the table is a bad agreement, which will give Iran 100 billion dollars a year, this money will not build schools or houses sick. This is 100 billion dollars a year that will be used to destabilize the Middle East and spread terrorism around the world.”
“The money will finance the Revolutionary Guards and the forces that oppress the Iranians”
Lapid elaborated on the purposes for which he believes the money Iran will receive, “This money will finance the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij forces who oppress the Iranian people, it will finance more attacks on American bases in the Middle East, it will be used to strengthen Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it is money exactly for them People who are trying to murder writers and thinkers in New York, and of course it will be used to strengthen the nuclear program.”
He added that this week Raphael Grossi, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Agency, was asked if he received satisfactory answers from the Iranians about the open investigations. Lapid noted that “what he answered: “Absolutely not. As of now, Iran has not provided the reliable technical answers and are required to explain the origin of the presence of many remnants of uranium. Give us answers: if there was radioactive material there or if there was equipment there, then where is it now?”
Lapid warned that the blanket lifting of sanctions on sectors such as banking, against financial entities that are today declared to be helping terrorism, means that the Iranians will have no problem laundering money. They will help other countries that have sanctions to bypass them (Russia and others) they will be able to create a direct route to terrorist financing.
More concessions than the previous nuclear agreement
A senior political official adds that the current agreement contains more concessions than the previous agreement and that it is the opposite of the American goal of a stronger long-term agreement. According to him, the best way to reach an agreement is to put a credible military threat on the table. In 2015, the US brought out the bunker busters to show Iran what would happen if they refused. It’s not like now with moving red lines, not complying with Take it or Leave it. US military capabilities should be part of the conversation if The parties want a longer & stronger agreement. He added that Israel has the capabilities of a power.
The source claimed that because of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in 2015, Israel was excluded from the discussion room, and it did not help, “Relations with the US are a cornerstone of our policy. They must not be endangered.” He also said that within the government and the Israeli security establishment there is a unified position that opposes returning to the nuclear agreement. This position is based on the intelligence that the State of Israel has and the decision-making process that was done before we turned to the Americans and other partners on the issue. He added that there is a fear that many consequences of The removal of the sections on Iran were not taken into account because, among other things, it is impossible to differentiate between Iran’s actions in the region and the nuclear program – especially when huge sums of money are transferred to Iran. He pointed out that Iran transfers over a billion dollars a year to its affiliate terrorist organizations.
The agreement now seems closer than ever after the Europeans effectively gave up on the conditions set and Iran refused to accept them, and senior American officials praise in interviews the achievements it brings. An American official aware of the moves told Globes that in their view, in terms of delaying Iran’s ability to obtain a bomb, the agreement has many achievements, as long as the monitoring of compliance with the agreement will be close and exhaustive. He said that the agreement does not refer to the other disturbing aspects of Iranian policy, as he said, and these will be dealt with in other ways.