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Israel-U.S. Gaps on Iran Closing

(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - Israeli officials said Jerusalem would agree to tacitly accept American concessions to Iran if the concessions did not include significant changes to the sanctions on Tehran and ensured a halt in Iran's uranium enrichment program during the talks. Both Israeli and U.S. officials said the strategic disagreement between the two countries had been solved and that they agree that the goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and from obtaining the ability to produce such arms. The only remaining disagreement centered on negotiating tactics. Israel believes that only strengthening sanctions and intensifying international pressure will force Iran to succumb. The Americans, however, do not believe in additional sanctions and say increasing pressure would have an undesirable effect. In the meantime, Israel is satisfied by agreements reached with the U.S. in recent weeks. A senior official in Jerusalem said Israel's aggressive stance since the first round of talks had prevented a complete collapse of the sanctions. "We changed the conversation in which everyone was talking about easing the existing sanctions to a conversation in which everyone is discussing the need for preventing additional sanctions," the Israeli official said.
2013-11-06 00:00:00
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