Expressing their dissatisfaction with the U.S.’ input, Israel decided to take matters into its own hands, and released on Monday a very specific list with various demands, if the deal with Iran was going to become final any time soon.

So far, public opinion has criticized Israel’s international diplomacy, deeming their requests unreasonable. Previous to Monday’s update to the final agreement, the nation had demanded a total annihilation of Iran’s military nuclear groundwork; but Yuval Steinitz, occupant of Israel’s minister of intelligence and strategic affairs office, came up with a “more reasonable” list of desired adjustments.

The deal is set to be signed by both parties by June 30, and the Israeli government explained that the new changes are requested for the benefit and protection of the country.

A preliminary plan was acknowledged last week in a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Iran and international powers, such as the United States, participated, and Israel has been trying to close possible dangerous loopholes that might damage the nation.

The Israeli demands are pretty straight forward, including the dissolution of their research department that works on developing cutting-edge centrifuges in Iran; drastically reducing the number of centrifuges, in case Iran breaks the nuclear deal and decides to assemble a bomb; the permanent termination of the underground Fordo facility, even though all enrichment activities have been closed down; Iranian cooperation about divulging past activities regarding possible military actions; an agreement to ship its reserve of enriched uranium out of Iran’s territory; and they also asked for complete permission for inspectors of the deal to visit and examine wherever in Iran.

Israel reacts to preliminary deal

In a recent interview, President Obama stated that the United States’ involvement in Iran (or anywhere else in the world) does not exclude the fact that the U.S. is always ready to protect both national interests and the interests of its allies.

The Israeli authorities reacted after President Obama gave a statement saying that the preliminary deal in its current form is the best preventive measure against Tehran building a nuclear weapon. Obama also promised to Israel that U.S. has “got their backs.”

Initially, such statements look like the U.S. really has Israel’s interest at heart, but Mr. Steinitz explained why the Israeli government reacted with a list of their own desires. Obama’s presumption that the Lausanne plan is the only way, or even that Israel had no saying in presenting an alternative had made national authorities step up and involve more.

However, war is not the only alternative to the agreement set in Switzerland, nor is it the solution Israel is looking for. Instead, they plan on adding pressure on Iran, believing that they get a much better nuclear deal if they keep their ground on the matter of demands.

According to Mr. Steinitz, Israeli authorities are set on convincing the world’s powers (starting with the U.S. and then Russia, France, Britain and others) that this is a bad deal and that they can get a much better one, if they all agree to dramatically change it.

Mr. Steinitz did not back down on their requests, even when it was suggested that, should Iran object to location inspections, an international committee could judge said objections. He said that the surrogate option is just “not good enough”, as it would take too much time to report suspicious activities to an outside board.

Agreeing or not with the current nuclear deal

In the present, Israel’s international image regarding its nuclear arsenal is rather ambiguous; even though its reputation speculates the country is well set on this matter, no official statements were made concerning the possible possession of nuclear weapons.

As specified in the Lausanne framework, the world powers got Iran to agree to an intensive program of international examinations, even though the details of the aforementioned inspections were not established.

On the same list that Iran agreed to was also the limitation of uranium enrichment at their facilities, keeping them to a low degree of civilian functions. The country will also cut their numerous centrifuges by almost a quarter of their current number.

The Fordo facility would become a place for non-invasive research, and all uranium enrichment activities will be suspended for the next 15 years. The Arak water reactor was agreed to be altered in order to prevent the potential production of plutonium for the purposes of building a bomb.

Once Iran conforms to the conditions, the United States and other powerful nations agreed to offer in exchange a unanimous lifting of the sanctions constraining the Iranian economy.

Image Source: NPR

Bio
Latest Posts

Richard Carlisle

Richard is a product of the 90s and a serious fan of the Star Wars series. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology; therefore, he has a great understanding of the relationship between physical activity and mental health. Although he has a full- time job in a clinic, he enjoys covering news related to health and the United States.