Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid down rules regarding what he considers appropriate limits on U.S. deals with Iran. He believes that negotiators must completely dismantle Tehran’s nuclear facilities in any talks with Iran. Netanyahu’s remarks come as Iranian government officials head to Geneva to begin the second round of nuclear negotiations with U.S. officials.
At the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Netanyahu reveals the contents of the meeting he had with President Donald Trump. He mentioned to Trump that the stopping of the enrichment process is not an acceptable conclusion to negotiations. In his opinion, the equipment used to carry out the process of enrichment must be destroyed.
Deal With Iran: Frequent Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Sets Forth Conditions
Three areas of primary concern to Netanyahu are:
- All enriched materials must be exported out of Iran.
- There is to be no further enrichment of Iran’s nuclear materials. For this to happen, the nuclear enrichment facilities must be dismantled.
- There is to be a complete resolution to the conflict surrounding Iran’s ballistic missiles.
The Prime Minister wanted to see “no lead time” inspections done, but he is doubtful a successful deal can be made. Reportedly, Trump said to Netanyahu, “Let’s give it a shot”; meaning he was doubtful of the success on the deal. They agreed that Iran should never have nuclear weapons, but they have different views on how they can prevent that from happening.
How it impacts the economy, the U.S. and Iran.
Trump and Netanyahu expressed that they would like to increase the economic pressure on Iran. Their target is to reduce the sales of Iranian oil to China, which would hurt Iran’s economy. China currently buys over 80 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
The U.S. has also increased their troops in the area. Recently Trump sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, to be ready “just in case we don’t make a deal”. Trump also said having a government change in Iran would be the best thing that could happen.
Iran’s Economic Interest
Leading up to the Geneva talks, Iran has been taking a more soft approach with the U.S. Iran has indicated that the U.S. can expect an economic benefit from the deal. Potential projects of interest to Iran include oil, gas, mining, aircraft, and perhaps even a direct deal with the U.S.
Tehran is willing to begin talks on the issue of highly enriched uranium, but doubles down on their ballistic missile program, and states that “zero enrichment” is a deal breaker for them.
Gaza and Military Aid
While addressing the audience, Netanyahu gave a briefing on the current situation of Gaza. Netanyahu states that Israel is obligated to “finish the job” in reference to the destruction of tunnels. Israel has destroyed 150 out of 500 km of tunnels.
In his speech, Netanyahu also made a shocking announcement regarding the U.S. aid. He is planning a 10-year timeline to gradually stop financial military aid to Israel. He aims to change the definition of the relationship from aid to partnership by 2038.
