A New York Times piece published on Wednesday night exposed details of an anticipated agreement between the United States and Iran over the Iranian nuclear program.
In recent weeks, there have been rumors of secret talks between the Biden administration and the Iranian regime on the latter’s nuclear program, which is developing at a rate that worries the neighboring nations.
The story claims that the Americans want to negotiate an informal, unwritten deal, which some Iranian officials refer to as a “political cease-fire,” to stop the situation from worsening.
The new agreement, which two Israeli officials described as “imminent” but has not yet been approved by Congress, is said to require Iran to limit its uranium enrichment to no more than 60 percent purity.
That purity level is just shy of the 90% needed to create a nuclear bomb, which the United States has warned would prompt a harsh response.
Iran would also stop its regional allies from killing American contractors in Syria and Iraq, increase its cooperation with international nuclear inspectors, and stop supplying ballistic missiles to Russia, according to Iranian authorities.
Iran requests in exchange that the US refrain from increasing sanctions, seizing foreign ships carrying oil, as it most recently did in April, and refrain from pursuing further punitive resolutions at the UN or the IAEA against Iran for its nuclear activity.
In exchange for releasing three Iranian-American inmates who the US claims were wrongly jailed, Iran also demands that the US unfreeze billions of dollars in Iranian assets, whose use would be restricted to humanitarian causes. Neither a connection between the convicts and the money nor a relationship between the detainees and nuclear issues has been proven by US officials.
An Iranian official, a US official, and three top Israeli officials acknowledged the general terms of the negotiations. American officials would only refer to attempts to secure the release of prisoners as a critical US priority without going into further detail.
Israel has emphasized that it will not accept or be bound by any foreign arrangement with Iran.
During a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Of course, this [regional stability] is being challenged by the rise of a new power in the region, which has completely replaced the Arab world in hostility to Israel and aspires to our destruction, and this is Iran.
Our approach seeks to widen the circle of peace to thwart Iran and its proxies, who are to blame for over 90% of our security issues.
“Our position is clear: No agreement with Iran will be binding on Israel, which will continue to do everything to defend itself. I think our opposition to a return to the original agreement is working, but there are still differences of outlook, and we do not hide them, also about smaller agreements. We enunciate our policy clearly, both openly and in closed rooms.”
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