Israel Weary US-Iran Talks could Curtail Option of Military Action
Iran and the US have met five times since the nuclear negotiations began on April 12.
With negotiations between the US and Iran ongoing, Israeli officials are concerned the Trump administration may agree to a deal that does not curtail Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme but restricts Israel’s option of military action, the Wall Street Journal reported.
At a press conference on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against any action that could adversely affect the talks between the US and Iran, the report said.
“I told him this would be very inappropriate to do right now, because we’re very close to a solution,” Trump stated.
Nearly two months into talks between the U.S. and Iran, Israeli officials are concerned the Trump administration may agree to a deal that doesn’t block Tehran’s ability to produce a nuclear bomb but curtails possible Israeli military action https://t.co/uYklcDvyVl
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 30, 2025
Iran and the US have met five times since the nuclear negotiations began on April 12 with the two sides deadlocked for now, the report noted.
This is due to the insistence from the US that Iran “must give up the ability to enrich uranium,” the paper said.
Red Line for Iran
There is concern among the Israelis that the US will not stick to “its red line” on enrichment in its keen attempt to reach a deal.
“The fear is because Trump wants a deal and Iran can stall for time, we will end up with a deal that does not adhere to the zero enrichment principle,” Avner Golov, a former senior director at Israel’s National Security Council who is now with MIND Israel, a national security advisory group, reportedly said.
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Citing a senior US official, the paper said the US was planning to submit a “term sheet” to Iran that would include an end to enrichment.
“If they don’t accept these terms, it’s not going to be a good day for the Iranians,” the official was quoted as saying.
Iran has “insisted on the ability to enrich uraniam as a core demand over two decades of nuclear negotiations,” the paper said.
Israel’s Approach
The senior US official said the Americans “have some disagreements with Israel over how to approach this right now.”
He added that “our approach could change if they don’t want to make a deal.”
Citing a source familiar with Israel’s planning, the paper said Israel “had already planned for an attack on Iran this year but held off after a request by the Trump administration to allow for negotiations.”
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The report also said some in Israel are of the view that Israel should go ahead and attack Iran’s nuclear programme “even without US support, while the window of opportunity remains open.”
Such action, however, would alienate Israel’s key ally “and be less effective or difficult to pull off without American military help—including vital American assistance in fending off any large-scale Iranian military response to an Israeli attack.”
Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser under Netanyahu, said Israel prefers “a good agreement,” but if in the end, it was “a bad agreement” then Israel “should use kinetic force to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, even if the U.S. opposes it.”
The issue is coming to a head, the report noted, as Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza has impacted relations between the two governments.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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