Jerusalem, Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday that Iran was unlikely to honour any potential agreement as efforts continue to revive diplomacy over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Netanyahu meeting with US envoy
Netanyahu “made clear his position that Iran has repeatedly proven that its promises cannot be trusted,” according to a statement from his office.
Two Israeli officials said the meeting was also attended by Israel’s spy agency head David Barnea, Defence Minister Israel Katz and military commander Eyal Zamir.
Conditions for renewed talks
Iranian sources told Reuters last week that US President Donald Trump had set three conditions for resumption of talks: zero enrichment of uranium in Iran, limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, and ending its support for regional proxies.
Iran has long said all three demands are unacceptable infringements of its sovereignty, but two Iranian officials told Reuters its clerical rulers saw the ballistic missile programme, rather than uranium enrichment, as the bigger obstacle.
Talks planned in Turkey and rising tensions
Iran and the United States will resume nuclear talks on Friday in Turkey.
Trump has warned that with US warships heading to Iran, bad things would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington are running high, and the arrival of a US aircraft carrier and supporting warships in the Middle East has expanded Trump’s ability to take military action if he so wishes, after repeatedly threatening intervention over Iran’s bloody crackdown.
Protests and conflicting accounts
During the early January protests, witnesses and rights groups said security forces crushed demonstrations with lethal force, leaving thousands dead and many wounded.
Tehran blamed the violence on “armed terrorists” linked to Israel and the US.
What do you think the resumption of nuclear talks in Turkey could mean for tensions between the United States and Iran?
