Despite Iran's repeated assertions that it is ready to start another round of talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, Israel Hayom has learned that the assessment in Jerusalem is that this is nothing more than an Iranian tactic aimed at buying time.
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After analyzing Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani's statement on Wednesday – in which he said Iran and the EU have agreed to resume talks by the end of November – the conventional wisdom within the Israeli national security and diplomatic circles is that Iran does not truly want to reach a deal [now] with the US and the other world powers that would contain its nuclear program. Instead, it would use the talks to maintain its rapid pace of uranium enrichment and other gains in its nuclear program.
The US envoy on Iran Robert Malley has recently said the talks are in a "critical phase" because "the window for negotiations on a return to the JCPOA will not be open forever," due of the technological advancement in Iran's nuclear program since it began breaching it. "You can't revive a dead corpse," he said, stressing that the United States had not reached that point yet. But Malley also said that the US "will continue to pursue diplomacy, even as we pursue other steps if we face a world in which we need to do that."
The Israeli assessment is that Iran would seek to continue breaching the deal as the talks continue in the coming months, unlike the optimistic view in the US that a deal could be struck rather quickly not long after another round commences. "The Iranians will ultimately reach a deal with the US and the world powers but only at a time and state that is convenient for them," an Israeli official told Israel Hayom, adding that Iran would most likely try to deceive international inspectors even after a deal is concluded.
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