Israel PM Naftali Bennett warns world leaders against Iran's 'Nuclear Blackmail'

As discussions on the 2015 nuclear deal resumed on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned the international community against giving into Iran’s “nuclear blackmail”. Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal was signed between the Islamic Republic and P5+1 countries, however, in 2018, ex-US President Donald Trump pulled his country out. Since then talks have been ongoing to revive the pact that could see Iran giving up its nuclear ambitions.  

Meanwhile, in a broadcast video, Bennett called on the member states to refrain from rejoining the pact. Accusing Iran, he said that during the latest round of negotiations, Tehran would demand all the sanctions to be completely nixed while giving nothing in return. “Iran should not be rewarded,” he said. Notably, Israeli officials had previously expressed concerns about Washington signing a “less for less” deal with Iran. Speaking to Washinton Post, an unnamed zionist official stressed that the country was “very concerned” regarding the agreement. "Such an agreement would be detrimental and would only benefit the Iranian regime. It would be an enormous gift to Iran’s new, radical and IRGC affiliated regime,” he said. 

"Despite Iran's violations and undermining of the nuclear inspections, Iran will be arriving at the negotiation table in Vienna, and there are those who think they deserve to have their sanctions removed and hundreds of billions of dollars poured right into their rotten regime. They're wrong", the Israeli prime minister said.

'Rotten deal' 

The deal, signed in 2015 between Iran and other major world powers, including the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany (P5+1), saw Washington lifting economic sanctions against Tehran and in return, the Islamic Republic agreed to bring down its uranium enrichment programme. However, former US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, calling the structure of the deal "rotten". The Islamic Republic then retaliated by ending its compliance with the deal. As of now, six talks have been held in an attempt to revive the controversial nuclear pact, but despite US President Joe Biden vowing to resume the pact at the earliest, negotiations continue to be in limbo.  

(Image: AP)