Mossad chief says looming Iran deal ‘based on lies,’ is ‘very bad for Israel’

Mossad chief David Barnea has called an emerging Iran nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers “a strategic disaster” for Israel in recent meetings about the agreement.

In comments carried by Hebrew-language media Thursday evening, the spy master said the deal is “very bad for Israel” and the US “is rushing into an accord that is ultimately based on lies,” citing Iran’s ongoing claim that its nuclear activities are peaceful in nature.

Barnea added that an accord appeared to be inevitable “in light of the needs of the US and Iran.” Washington is seeking to prevent Tehran from acquiring the capability to build a nuclear bomb, while the Islamic Republic is seeking relief from crippling financial and economic sanctions.

According to Barnea, the deal, due to its sunset clauses, “gives Iran license to amass the required nuclear material for a bomb” in a few years, and will also provide Tehran billions of dollars in currently frozen money, increasing the danger Iran poses throughout the region via its proxies.

He stressed that a deal will not obligate Israel, and that the Jewish state will act however it sees fit to neutralize the threat against it. Israel has already begun preparations for a military strike against Iran if such action is deemed necessary.

“The Mossad is preparing and knows how to remove that threat,” Barnea said.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid sat down for a discussion about the looming deal with Barnea earlier on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Iran announced that it had received the US’s response to its proposal for a return to the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was ditched by then-US president Donald Trump in 2018.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to characterize the administration’s response to the latest proposal, but noted that “we are closer now than we were even just a couple of weeks ago because Iran made a decision to make some concessions.”

Lapid told reporters on Thursday that Israel’s efforts to influence the outcome of negotiations had borne fruit, but that the accord was still “a bad deal” for Israel.

The prime minister pointed both to the trip to Washington this week by national security adviser Eyal Hulata for “very intensive discussions” on the issue and to Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s visit to the US, which began on Thursday.

Gantz met with US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla in Tampa, Florida, to discuss ways to increase cooperation between Israel and the US military, as well as methods for countering the Iranian threat in the Middle East.

Before departing for Washington, Gantz tweeted that the goal of his trip was “to send a clear message in regard to the negotiations between Iran and powers on the nuclear deal: A deal that does not knock Iran’s abilities back by years and does not restrain it for years ahead, is a deal that will harm global and regional security.”

While Gantz was in Washington, Iran conducted a second day of military exercises with combat drones. The drones successfully destroyed many of their intended targets during the drills, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

The Walla news site claimed that Israeli officials are slightly less worried about the possibility of the US granting major concessions to Tehran in the wake of Hulata’s visit to DC on Wednesday.

Citing a senior Israeli official, the report said that the US had “hardened their position” and refused to make concessions to Iran in response to pressure from Israel.

Channel 12 news reported Thursday that the emerging accord would not require the US to remove Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of foreign terror organizations, nor would it roll back Iran’s requirement to explain sites with suspected nuclear activity to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the PBS network that the US “has not put pressure” on the nuclear watchdog to compromise on its demands of Iran regarding those sites and said that he believed investigators will eventually be allowed to conduct a probe.

“We will get there, I’m sure,” Grossi said.

Iran, on the other hand, repeated its call to the IAEA on Thursday to end its investigation into the unexplained traces of uranium at three undeclared sites.

“We are very serious about safeguard issues, and do not want to allow some of the IAEA’s baseless accusations to remain,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, according to state news agency IRNA.

The issue has poisoned relations between the IAEA and the Islamic Republic, which considers the matter “political in nature, and which should not be used as a pretext to punish Iran,” an Iranian diplomat said, according to IRNA.

Negotiations for a return to the nuclear deal have intensified in recent weeks, after months of stalling following Iranian demands that were rejected by Washington.

The European Union-coordinated talks began in April 2021, came to a standstill in March, and picked up again in August. The Biden administration has repeatedly said it believes diplomacy is the best way to resolve the crisis.

In a briefing to foreign reporters on Wednesday, Lapid urged the US and the European Union to back away from the emerging deal, claiming it did not meet US President Joe Biden’s own red lines as it would not prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed state.

“In our eyes, it does not meet the standards set by President Biden himself: preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state,” Lapid said, while also attempting to downplay any rift between Jerusalem and Washington or Europe.

Lapid panned the EU’s negotiating position, claiming that it had reneged on its declaration of “take it or leave it” when it presented a supposed final draft of the deal, allowing the Iranians to submit counterdemands and changes.

Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who led a fierce campaign against the 2015 accord, also voiced staunch opposition to the deal on Wednesday, saying that the emerging new agreement is even worse than before.

“The terrible deal with Iran… casts a heavy shadow on our security and our future,” Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv.

Israel has long opposed the deal, arguing that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, and has published intelligence it says reveals the Iranian weapons program. Iran has denied any nefarious intentions and claims its program is designed for peaceful purposes, though it has recently been enriching uranium to levels that international leaders say have no civil use.

Agencies contributed to this report.