Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for the first time on Thursday publicly presented the shift on Iran policy from the previous government, saying that Israel will work closely with its allies on countering Tehran’s nuclear program, while maintaining a credible military threat.
The Biden administration reaffirmed a U.S. commitment not to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons as IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi wrapped up four days of discussions with American defense and intelligence officials.
The attempted attack on an Iranian nuclear site outside Tehran that was reported on Wednesday targeted a facility used in the construction of centrifuges needed to enrich uranium, Iranian opposition sources said.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said during a visit to the Pentagon that a U.S. return to the Iran nuclear deal would be “dangerous” and that all options should be exhausted to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear military capabilities, the Israeli military said in a statement Monday.
The United States has said it will continue indirect talks with Iran on rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal, despite asserting that the June 18 election of ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s new president had not been a free and fair process, the Times of Israel reports. Raisi is viewed as an ally of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s sole nuclear power plant underwent an unexplained temporary emergency shutdown, state TV reported on Sunday.
Iran said Tuesday that it has produced 6.5 kilograms (14.3 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity and 108 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20% purity in five months, far ahead of the schedule set by a law passed earlier this year by Tehran.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have made clear that Israel will continue the Netanyahu government’s opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement, as international efforts continued to revive the pact abandoned by former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Republican members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs have sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding a congressional review of any nuclear agreements reached with Iran.
Leaders of the NATO military alliance warned Monday that the military threat posed by China and its cooperation with Russia is a “systemic challenge.”
China is expanding its nuclear arsenal as tensions with the United States escalate, according to a report.
Thousands of missile troops are holding drills with Russia’s latest mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system and other “special hardware.”
European Union negotiators said international talks that resumed Saturday on the Iran nuclear agreement were on track to revive the deal, which crumbled after the United States withdrew in 2018.
Russia is preparing to provide Iran with an advanced satellite that would enable it to track potential military targets across the Middle East, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Satellite images taken last year appear to show concealment activity at an Iranian facility previously identified as a site where Tehran was accused of manufacturing a key component for its nuclear program.
Negotiations aimed at returning the United States and Iran to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal will resume this weekend, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on June 9.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi announced Monday that the Iranian government has failed to answer questions about the discovery of uranium particles at three sites that may have been connected to Iran’s nuclear program, the Times of Israel reports. Grossi called on Iran to provide the required information without further delay.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Monday that the “breakout time” Iran needs to assemble an atomic bomb could be reduced to just weeks, if Tehran keeps violating the 2015 accord limiting its nuclear program.
Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, considers enhancing China’s nuclear program as being vital to the country’s “strategic deterrence” against the United States.
Iran holds a quantity of low enriched uranium nearly 16 times higher than the limit authorized in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, according to a report Monday by the International Atomic Energy Agency.