BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night rubbished suggestions that the international community could relax pressure on Iran over its nuclear development in return for Tehran playing a role in the US-led coalition against ISIS.

The P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) are engaged in a pivotal round of talks with Iran in New York in an attempt to reach a so far elusive long-term agreement over Iran’s nuclear development. The two sides were unable to meet a 20 July deadline to broker such a settlement and agreed to extend the talks until 24 November. In particular, the two sides sharply disagree over the extent of Iranian uranium enrichment. At the same time, the US is leading a coalition of international forces, including several Arab countries committed to defeating ISIS.

Over the weekend, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif to discuss the P5+1 talks and ISIS. Kerry commented, “There is a role for nearly every country to play, including Iran,” in tackling ISIS. Reuters suggested that Iran had offered to back the US effort against ISIS in return for easing restrictions on its nuclear programme.

However, speaking yesterday evening in Jerusalem, Netanyahu thoroughly rejected such a calculation. He noted that some “are saying that the major powers need to go easy on Iran’s nuclear program so that Iran will fight ISIS.” Netanyahu explained that, “They [Iran] are fighting ISIS for their own interests. They are fighting over who will be the ruler of the Islamist world that they want to set over the entire world.” He reiterated his position that, “Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold state.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stressed the importance of preventing Iran’s nuclear armament in a meeting with Kerry last week, while Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said recently that a “bad deal” with Iran is “something we are not willing to accept.”