As the negotiations of the Iranian nuclear deal take place in Vienna, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke Dec. 1 with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and told him that Iran was utilizing “nuclear blackmail” as a negotiation tactic, and therefore the United States should initiate “an immediate cessation of negotiations.” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also met this week, on Nov. 30, in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, and emphasized to him that Iran is trying to delay negotiations in order to advance its nuclear program and pointed to the immediate need to return to tough sanctions.

Bennett’s statement followed a report published Dec. 1 by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has started to enrich uranium to a 20% purity level using advanced centrifuges at the subterranean Fordow facility. They express Israel’s official position that the nuclear deal with Iran is bad and that the powers should stop negotiations immediately. 

Israel is very disturbed at what’s happening in Vienna, since reports from the nuclear negotiations in recent days support the early Israeli estimate that Iran will present a very hard line at the talks and will try to delay returning to the agreement’s framework. Israel believes Iran is delaying in order to use this time to continue the nuclear program without inspection and to stockpile enough enriched material and knowledge that would enable a quick breakthrough to nuclear power. 

The Israeli position is complicated.