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Israel resigned to new Iran nuclear deal over its objections

Israel appears to have resigned itself to the defeat of its prolonged campaign against an agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, Jerusalem, Aug. 22 2022.

A sense of impending doom has taken hold of Israel’s top security echelons. Situation assessments and working assumptions over the past two weeks have led to the inescapable conclusion that world powers will sign a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. The disagreements between the more pessimistic views of the Mossad agency and the more relaxed approach of military intelligence have all but dissipated.

A top security source told Al-Monitor this week that the agreement would be signed sooner or later because both US President Joe Biden and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei want it. “Unfortunately, Biden wants it more, and the West has gradually given in to Iran on almost all the clauses. Both sides are ripe for signing; the Iranians know they will not get more than they already received and President Biden aspires to sign before the mid-terms,” the source said on condition of anonymity, referring to the upcoming November congressional elections.

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