Nuclear Deal with Iran would be Reckless, Israeli Official Warns

by Yoni Hirsch, Eli Leon, Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters

Top Israeli minister: Iran's refusal to disclose its nuclear past casts a heavy shadow over the future • Recording reveals high-level Obama administration official saying Iran nuclear deal would be "probably the biggest thing" Obama does in second term.

The Iranian nuclear facility in Arak [Illustrative] | Photo credit: AP

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, said Friday that Iran has stopped answering IAEA questions regarding "possible military dimensions" of its nuclear program.

"We cannot provide assurance that all [nuclear] material [in Iran] is for peaceful purposes," Amano said.

"What is needed now is action," Amano said, referring to the IAEA's unanswered questions about Iran's nuclear program. 

Israeli officials were very concerned by Amano's statements. International Relations, Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said, "Iran's refusal to disclose its nuclear past casts a heavy shadow over the future. Amano's grave words indicate, in fact, Iran's first violation of the interim nuclear agreement [of last November]. Signing a final agreement under these conditions would be a reckless act that world powers must avoid." 

Despite Iran's intransigence, the White House apparently views a nuclear deal with Iran as being of the upmost importance. In an audio recording obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes was heard telling a group of liberal activists last January that Obama attributes as much significance to an Iran nuclear deal as he did to health care reform.

"Bottom line is, this is the best opportunity we've had to resolve the Iranian issue diplomatically, certainly since President Obama came to office, and probably since the beginning of the Iraq war," Rhodes said. "So no small opportunity, it's a big deal. This is probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy. This is health care for us, just to put it in context."

Rhodes added that the Obama administration was looking for ways to avoid congressional scrutiny of an Iran nuclear deal.

"We're already kind of thinking through, how do we structure a deal so we don’t necessarily require legislative action right away," Rhodes said. "And there are ways to do that."

When asked on Friday to assess the chances of reaching a deal with Iran by the Nov. 24 deadline for a final agreement, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, "I honestly can’t give you odds, and I wouldn't. I think -- I'm hopeful, but it's a very tough negotiation. There are still gaps that are fairly wide on a number of subjects."

Kerry will meet in Muscat, Oman, next week with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and outgoing EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue ahead of the upcoming deadline for a final deal.

Last week, the top U.S. negotiator in the Iran talks, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, said Iran would widely be seen as responsible if a comprehensive deal to curb its nuclear program was not reached.

Both sides say they still aim to meet the Nov. 24 deadline for a deal, despite doubts among many experts that they can reach an accord that would end the decade-old dispute over the Iranian nuclear program in just a few weeks.

Western officials say there are still differences in the positions of the two sides, especially over the future scope of Iran's uranium enrichment program, which can have civilian and military uses.

The United States, France, Britain and Germany would like the number of enrichment centrifuges Iran maintains to be in the low thousands, while Iran wants to keep tens of thousands in operation. It now has about 19,000 installed, of which about 10,000 are spinning to refine uranium.

Iran and the six powers reached an interim deal last November, under which Iran received limited sanctions relief in exchange for halting the production of medium-enriched uranium. That six-month accord took effect early this year and was extended by four months in July.

Yoni Hirsch, Eli Leon, Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=21137

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