Steinitz ahead of nuclear talks: Iran is Israel\’s greatest threat, not ISIS or Hezbollah

 

Steinitz, who returned over the weekend from strategic dialogue in Washington that focused largely on Iran, said that the Iranians have shown "no real flexibility."

 

The positions of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqhchi are no different than the positions of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. "The only thing that has changed is the tone," Steinitz said. 

 

"The Iranians continue in their insistence now as they did under Ahmadinejad, to retain most of the centrifuges and the heavy water reactor in Arak. There is no real difference."

 

Steinitz said that Israel is "disturbed" and that "no deal is better than a bad deal."

 

Steinitz also said that with the increased focus on the Islamic state, it is important for the international community to keep priorities correct, and "although it is important to defeat ISIS, if Iran gets nuclear weapons, it’s a different world for decades. This is the main threat to global security and should be the priority," he relayed. 

 

Steinitz, in apparent reference to the fact that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been running the negotiations, will end her term at the end of the year, stressed that "the lack of agreement is not a failure" and that "if the P5+1 stands by its principles and commitments, its not a failure but a success."

 

Asked whether he came back from Washington more or less concerned, he answered "I went concerned and I came back concerned. I didn’t hear anything that the Iranians had made concessions that gave me hope."