The disagreement over the most effective approach to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has resulted in at least one heated telephone conversation between Trump and Netanyahu, along with numerous high-level meetings between American and Israeli officials in recent days, The New York Times reported.

Trump stated Sunday that "something good" might emerge from his efforts to restrict Iran's nuclear program within the "next two days," The New York Times reported.

Sources knowledgeable about the negotiations indicated that at most, there would be an announcement of shared principles, according to The New York Times. The specifics under consideration remain confidential and would likely establish groundwork for additional negotiations, beginning with whether Iran could continue uranium enrichment at any level and how it would reduce its stockpiles of near-weapons-grade material.

The New York Times revealed in April that Israel had planned to attack Iranian nuclear installations as early as this month but was deterred by Trump, who preferred continued negotiations with Tehran. Netanyahu has persistently advocated for military action without US support, The New York Times reported.

Israel does not participate in the negotiations between America and Iran, The New York Times noted. The core tension between Netanyahu and Trump stems from their contrasting views on how to capitalize on Iran's current vulnerability.

In October, Israel eliminated crucial components of Iran's strategic air defense system that protected the nation's nuclear facilities, The New York Times reported. This would allow Israeli aircraft to approach Iran's borders without fear of being targeted.

Israel has also weakened Hezbollah and Hamas, which receive Iranian funding, weapons and rockets, according to The New York Times. By damaging Hezbollah particularly, Israel eliminated concerns about the group threatening Israeli aircraft en route to Iran and retaliating with missile attacks following any strike.

Netanyahu has contended that Iran's weakness will not persist, making this the optimal time for an attack, The New York Times reported. Trump has argued that Iran's weakness creates an ideal opportunity to negotiate an end to Iran's enrichment program, supported by the threat of military action if discussions fail.

Israeli officials worry that Trump is so determined to secure his own agreement – one he will attempt to present as stronger than the Obama administration's 2015 deal – that he will permit Iran to maintain its uranium enrichment facilities, The New York Times reported.

Last month, Netanyahu insisted that the only "good deal" would dismantle "all of the infrastructure" of Iran's extensive nuclear facilities, which are buried beneath the desert in Natanz, deep within a mountain at Fordow, and at installations throughout the country, according to The New York Times.

This account of tensions between the two leaders derives from interviews with US, European and Israeli officials involved in the diplomacy and debate between the American and Israeli governments, The New York Times reported. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

Ron Dermer, Israel's minister of strategic affairs, and David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, met in Rome Friday with Trump's chief negotiator Steve Witkoff, The New York Times reported.

The two officials then traveled to Washington for a Monday meeting with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, according to The New York Times. Dermer met again with Witkoff Tuesday, though the purpose of that meeting remained unclear.

When asked for comment, White House officials referenced Trump's weekend remarks, when he said he would "love to see no bombs dropped," The New York Times reported.

The primary disagreement in negotiations between Witkoff and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi centers on the Trump administration's position that Iran must cease all nuclear material enrichment on its territory, according to The New York Times. Araghchi has repeatedly rejected this restriction, reiterating in a Tuesday social media post that if Western powers insist on "'zero enrichment' in Iran" then "there is nothing left for us to discuss on the nuclear issue," The New York Times reported.

To prevent negotiations from collapsing, Witkoff and Oman, serving as mediator, are exploring creative alternatives, The New York Times reported. These include a possible regional joint venture to produce nuclear reactor fuel involving Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, plus some US participation. However, the location of actual enrichment remains undetermined.

Witkoff has also abandoned his initial objections to an interim understanding outlining principles for a final deal, according to The New York Times. But this may not satisfy Israel or congressional Iran hawks.

This approach resembles what the Obama administration did in 2013, though completing a final arrangement took two additional years, The New York Times noted. Trump campaigned against that agreement during his 2016 presidential run, calling it a "disaster" because it allowed Iran to continue low-level enrichment and expired completely in 2030.

Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran, The New York Times reported.

Over the past four years, Iranians have not only revived and improved their nuclear facilities but also produced uranium enriched to 60% purity, just below "bomb grade" levels, according to The New York Times. Converting this to 90% enriched fuel for a bomb would take several weeks, and producing an actual nuclear weapon would require somewhere between several months to a year, American intelligence officials have estimated.

Ratcliffe traveled to Israel last month to discuss possible covert actions against Iran with Netanyahu and Israeli intelligence officials, The New York Times reported. The two countries have previously cooperated on covert efforts to cripple Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities, including an effort during the Bush and Obama administrations to attack facilities with sophisticated cyber weapons.

Throughout his decades in government, Netanyahu has consistently been skeptical of diplomatic overtures to Tehran, The New York Times noted. He opposed and sought to derail the 2015 agreement, even addressing a joint congressional session to argue for killing it.

This time, Israeli officials have revived an old strategy: threatening to strike Iran without American assistance, The New York Times reported. They insist they are not bluffing, despite making such threats and retreating multiple times over nearly two decades.

Israeli officials signaled to the Trump administration shortly before Trump's first formal foreign trip to the Middle East this month that they were preparing to attack Iran's nuclear sites, according to two people briefed on the discussions and cited by The New York Times. US intelligence also detected Israel's strike preparations.

This prompted Trump to speak with Netanyahu, who did not deny ordering his military and intelligence agencies to prepare for a strike and argued he had a limited window for action, The New York Times reported.

However, US military officials remain skeptical about how effective an Israeli strike conducted without American support would be, according to The New York Times. During the call, Trump acknowledged Iran's weakness but said this gave America leverage to make a deal ending the nuclear program peacefully, officials recounted to The New York Times.

Israelis are particularly suspicious of any interim deal that might keep Iran's facilities operational for months or years while reaching a final agreement, The New York Times reported. Initially, the Trump administration was also skeptical. Witkoff told his Iranian counterpart that Trump wanted a final deal within approximately two months.

But that deadline is approaching expiration, and a major gap remains over whether Iran will be permitted to continue uranium enrichment, which Tehran claims as its right as a Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signatory, according to The New York Times.

Now, the Trump administration appears more receptive to some interim declaration of common principles because it could help prevent an Israeli strike, The New York Times reported.

To satisfy Israelis and congressional Iran hawks, experts say any interim deal would almost certainly require Iran to ship its near-bomb-grade fuel out of the country or "down blend" it to far lower levels, according to The New York Times. This would enable Trump to claim he had eliminated, at least temporarily, the threat of Iran rapidly advancing toward a weapon.

One concern for American officials is that Israel could decide to strike Iran with minimal warning, The New York Times reported. US intelligence has estimated Israel could prepare to mount an Iran attack in as little as seven hours, leaving insufficient time to pressure Netanyahu into canceling it.

But the same American military assessment questioned how effective a unilateral Israeli strike would be without American support, according to The New York Times. Some Israeli officials close to Netanyahu believe America would have no choice but to assist Israel militarily if Iran counterattacked.

Israeli officials have told their American counterparts that Netanyahu could order an Iran strike even if a successful diplomatic agreement is reached, The New York Times reported.

After his April White House meeting with Trump, Netanyahu ordered Israeli national security officials to continue planning for an Iran strike, including a smaller operation not requiring US assistance, according to multiple people briefed on the matter and cited by The New York Times. Israel already maintains numerous different plans, ranging from surgical strikes to days of bombing Iranian facilities, including some in populated cities.

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America's top diplomat said "time is running short" to keep a UN arms embargo on Iran and a travel ban on the head of the country's elite Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, warning that ending such sanctions will "create new turmoil" by the country's "terror regime." The embargo and ban expire in October 2020.

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"Failing to confront the Iranian regime's malign activities will only grow the regime's multi-continental body count spanning the last 40 years," he warned.

Pompeo was one of more than 30 speakers at a Security Council meeting about the complex challenges confronting the Middle East. He faced sharp criticism from Russia and Iran, and milder criticism over Trump administration policies from several Western allies.

Pompeo began by touting the Trump administration's accomplishments related to "reviving America's leadership role" in the region. These included helping to dismantle the Islamic State extremist group's "physical caliphate" which once spanned large areas in Iraq and Syria, helping the UN envoy bring peace to Yemen, and facilitating new links between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Pompeo then called for more to be done to tackle the challenges facing the Middle East from raging conflict in Libya and continuing violence in Syria to the rift among Gulf countries and Iran, which he described as "the greatest ongoing threat to peace and security in the region."

He condemned Iran's support for proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen as well as its "inexcusable and unprovoked sabotage and seizure of commercial vessels" in the Persian Gulf and its development and testing of advanced ballistic missiles in defiance of a UN resolution.

"Clearly, from Aleppo to Aden, from Tripoli to Tehran, greater cooperation in the Middle East is needed more than ever," Pompeo said. "We need fresh thinking to solve old problems."

He said that's why the US and Poland established the Warsaw Process at a meeting attended by 60 countries in February to promote peace and security in the Middle East. He said seven working groups have been created to focus on the region's challenges – cybersecurity, human rights, maritime and aviation security, energy security, missile proliferation, counterterrorism, and humanitarian issues and refugees.

Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky called the Warsaw Process, which Moscow boycotted, "another attempt to impose a unilateral solution to advance parochial geopolitical agendas."

Speaking directly to Pompeo, he said the secretary of state's speech contained many negative words, only made one reference to cooperation – and "not once did you use the word dialogue."

He said Pompeo also spoke "in an emotionally charged way" about the Persian Gulf, which Russia is also concerned about.

"But you are cobbling together a coalition against Iran, portraying that country as the sole source of problems, a kind of empire of evil, so to speak," Polyansky said.

As a result of the military build-up in the region, he said, any incident can spark a conflict "with potentially devastating consequences." And he appealed to all parties to exercise restraint, settle problems politically and diplomatically, and "eschew ultimatums, sanctions, and threats."

Polyansky said the United States can't expect Iran to sit down for negotiations without preconditions when its calls for talks "are punctuated with direct provocations and demeaning sanctions."

"I wish to assure you, nonetheless, that even given these difficult circumstances we will continue to seek to persuade both our Iranian and United States colleagues of the fact that it's important to step away from this dangerous precipice, to begin to engage in a settlement through civilized dialogue which provides for an end to ultimatums, sanctions and to blackmail," Polyansky said.

Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said one of the main causes of instability and insecurity in the Middle East is the US deployment of over 70,000 troops in the region. Almost all of the 41 military installations in the Mideast in 2018 – up from four in 1990 – are American, he said, and "the unbridled flow of American weaponry into this region has turned it into a powder keg."

Responding to Pompeo's call for other nations to join the US, Britain, and Bahrain in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Gulf, Ravanchi called any interference in the strategic waterway "destabilizing," ''unacceptable," and doomed to "fail."

He reiterated Iran's call for a regional dialogue of Persian Gulf nations, and Polyansky reiterated Russia's call for collective security in the Gulf.

Britain's UN Ambassador Karen Pierce said, "This may well … be an idea whose time is yet to come, not least because the region itself needs to be ready for such work."

She said one option might be to have a serious and inclusive talk between regional and international actors about the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain, France, and Germany all reiterated their support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and urged the government to return to the uranium limits in the agreement.

Anne Gueguen, who is France's deputy UN ambassador, said in implicit criticism of the US that there "can't just be the policy of pressure and sanctions." She said only a global approach can deal with Iran's nuclear, ballistic missile, and regional activities.

Andreas Michaelis, a German deputy foreign minister, said these issues and Iran's threats to maritime security in the Gulf need to be addressed, and the three countries "are right now looking into options of how to foster regional cooperation and maritime security."

In a message clearly aimed at the Trump administration, he added: "We are convinced that active de-escalation by all sides will yield positive results and that an even higher pressure and unilateral actions will do the opposite."

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"[International Atomic Energy Agency] Director General Yukiya Amano has informed the IAEA Board of Governors that Agency inspectors on July 8 verified that Iran is enriching uranium above 3.67% U-235," an IAEA spokesman said.

A report to member states obtained by Reuters said that the agency had verified the enrichment level using online enrichment monitors, and that samples had also been taken on Monday for analysis.

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Iran said on Sunday it was fully prepared to enrich uranium at any level and at any amount, in further defiance of US efforts to squeeze the country with sanctions and force it to renegotiate the nuclear deal with world powers.

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"Today, Iran is taking its second round of remedial steps under Para 36 of the JCPOA. We reserve the right to continue to exercise legal remedies within JCPOA to protect our interests in the face of US #EconomicTerrorism. All such steps are reversible only through E3 compliance," Zarif tweeted.

Meanwhile, Britain issued a warning to Iran on Sunday to "immediately stop and reverse all activities" violating the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The British Foreign Office issued its warning after Tehran's announcement that it would break the 3.67% uranium enrichment limit set in the pact. The move comes after the US withdrew from the agreement last year and restored crippling sanctions on Iran.

Britain's Press Association quoted a ministry spokesman as saying: "While the UK remains fully committed to the deal, Iran must immediately stop and reverse all activities [that are] inconsistent with its obligations."

The spokesman said Britain is coordinating with other countries that are part of the accord "regarding the next steps under the terms of the deal, including a joint commission."

Earlier Sunday, the European Union said parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were discussing a possible emergency meeting after Iran's announcement that it will overstep the accord's limit on uranium enrichment.

EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijančić said that the bloc was "extremely concerned" about Iran's decision to ramp up enrichment beyond the 3.67% limit. She said the EU has warned Iran against such moves.

Amid growing tensions in the region, Kocijančić told The Associated Press that the EU was in contact with other parties to the accord to discuss the next steps, "including a joint commission."

The agreement's joint commission brings together officials from the participating nations – Iran, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and the EU. The US pulled out of the accord last year.

Germany said Sunday it was "extremely concerned" about Iran's announcement.

The German Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it was awaiting further information from the UN atomic watchdog.

The ministry called on Iran "to stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its commitments" and said it was in contact with remaining parties to the deal regarding the next steps to try keep Iran within the terms of the agreement.

The US unilaterally withdrew from the deal a year ago.

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Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered in 2010 after it was used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran's Natanz nuclear site. It was the first publicly known example of a virus being used to attack industrial machinery.

"Iran's university scientists have developed a firewall for industrial automation systems to neutralize industrial sabotage such as that caused by Stuxnet in power networks, and it was successfully tested," Communications Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi said, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.

In November, Azari Jahromi said that a Stuxnet attack had failed to harm Iran's communications infrastructures and accused Israel of being behind it.

Israel has declined to comment on whether or not it is involved in a cyberwar with Iran.

In 2013, researchers at Symantec Corp uncovered a version of the Stuxnet that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear program in 2007.

Tehran agreed under a 2015 deal to curb the program, but U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it last year with Israel's backing and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

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