An Israeli official has called for the world powers negotiating with Iran to adopt a much tougher line and strictly enforce any deal they strike on the country’s nuclear programme.
Israel has previously accused the group of being too soft on Iran, a charge Tehran has denied. Iran has said it is seeking nuclear technology only for civilian purposes.
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“We think that these negotiations must be a very strong pact, we must absolutely adhere to the details of this pact to the letter,” Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the US, told the Los Angeles Times. “If any agreement is reached, Israel cannot accept that it is ratified by the world.”
Negotiations between Iran and six major powers – the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany – have been deadlocked over Tehran’s enrichment of uranium and the speed at which the limits imposed on the programme should be lifted.
After marathon talks in Vienna last week, Western powers hope to announce a deal with Iran by late July. But according to the Times, Israeli officials are at odds with the US over what parameters a final deal should contain. Shoval did not name which officials disagreed, but insisted Israel would not recognise the outcome of the talks.
The paper reported that a new US administration would have to provide a “comprehensive, realistic” map of the Iranian nuclear programme to ensure there were no loopholes in any final deal.
Shoval said the outline of a deal – which is still not clear – might be enough to appease the Israeli government. “My attitude is this: if the terms of a final deal, after talks, we come to a conclusion and are satisfied with those terms, Israel will not accept to be a party to it.”
Last month in New York, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said a “certain degree of trust was needed” before talks would conclude. “When you try to do business with people, you need to use old-fashioned trust … For 20 years, international deals have been based on trust.”
Shoval added: “This belief has guided Israel since the start of the [Iran] nuclear crisis. It inspired us not to trust Russia and to look for third countries to build an alliance with. The handouts of oil and gas were not in the interest of Israel. We insist on the need to come up with enough punitive measures against Iran in order to protect Israel.”
Iran agrees to impose full monitoring on nuclear sites and spend at least a billion dollars on research, development and development, as well as on its heavy water production facilities, according to UN monitoring of the country’s nuclear programme.
Tehran will also suspend “activities related to uranium enrichment and conversion” and close its Fordow uranium enrichment plant, site of covert activities by the Iranians, whose building was hit by a US bunker buster bomb in 2007.
The proposed deal must also eliminate any possibility of proliferation of nuclear weapons by Iran to other states.
Iran, according to the paper, has threatened not to fully agree on the terms of a final deal unless the broader question of Iran’s missile programme is sorted out.