BICOM

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday met with Israel’s Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz in London, to discuss the attempts to reach a long-term agreement between the international community and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) are engaged in a pivotal round of talks with Iran 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.

Israel Hayom reports that during their meeting yesterday, Steinitz emphasised that a nuclear Iran would be the biggest threat not only to Israel and the Middle East but to world peace and warned against making a bad deal with Iran over its nuclear development. In a New York Times op-ed earlier this week, Steinitz said that Israel is “deeply concerned” over the “trajectory of the ongoing negotiations concerning Iran’s nuclear programme … especially on the core issue of uranium enrichment,” with Iran insistent over centrifuges. It was reported last week that the United States could soften its demand on reducing the number of centrifuges in return for Iran shipping out near weapons-grade enriched uranium.

Steinitz’s comments echoed those of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday that Israel has “genuine concern” as “We have not seen any evidence” of “genuine flexibility” from Iran.” He warned, “We are standing before the danger of an agreement that will leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state,” adding, “This is a threat to the entire world, first and foremost to Israel, and it is much worse than the threat of ISIS.”

According to Israel Hayom, Steinitz and Hammond agreed yesterday to continue their dialogue and overall cooperation regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Steinitz also met with Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood.