National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat, on Sunday morning 9 Cheshvan, briefed the Cabinet on the main points of his diplomatic visits in Washington and Moscow. He said that the agreement with Iran had to be corrected or cancelled and made clear to his hosts the main risks and threats that Israel sees in the agreement. He was joined in Moscow by a senior Israeli security delegation that included Defense Ministry, IDF, Mossad and Foreign Ministry representatives. He also detailed Israel’s opposition to Iran’s efforts to establish itself in Syria and discussed with them regional issues such as Hizbullah, the Kurdish zone and the Palestinian issue, including the reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

NSC Dir. Ben-Shabbat reached agreement with the Americans on resuming the inter-agency dialogue between Israel and the US led by the heads of the respective national security councils. He said that both Washington and Moscow were attentive to the issues he raised and added that in both capitals he found a basis for the continuation of joint talks.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel opposes the nuclear agreement with Iran because it will lead to Iran having an arsenal of nuclear weapons. He reiterated Israel’s support for cancelling or correcting the agreement and detailed the main points that must be redressed: The cancellation of sanctions in keeping with Iran’s conduct and not automatically, cancelling permits for advanced centrifuges and tightly monitoring military and other sites – which are currently prevented in practice.

Israel is also raising issues that are not in the agreement such as Iran’s regional aggression, its terror network and its ballistic missiles program.

Prime Minister Netanyahu recalled that in 1994 the world praised the nuclear agreement with North Korea and said: “We have seen what has happened since and Iran is 30 times stronger economically than North Korea. It has aspirations of regional and global dominance.”

PM Netanyahu added that he sees no interest on the part of the US, Russia or even the Arab states in the continuation of Iran’s efforts to establish itself in the region or in its aspiration toward nuclear weapons. He noted the value of his close ties with both the White House and the Kremlin, which are tactically and strategically important for the State of Israel and the entire region.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)