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Israel expresses deep concern that the administration of US President Donald Trump and his Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, do not understand the critical details that are important for curbing Iran’s nuclear programme. This was reported by The Jerusalem Post, citing its own sources.
On Friday, on the eve of the second round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran in Rome, Mossad Director David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer held a secret meeting with Vitkoff in Paris. However, according to the newspaper, they failed to convince the American negotiator to change the course of the talks.
“Israel even considered ‘intercepting’ Witkoff on his way to Rome, where the second round of talks began on Saturday,” The Jerusalem Post notes.
Although Barnea has previously had successful meetings with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Israel, and is respected by both the Biden and Trump administrations, his influence on Witkoff has been limited. The article says that Israel is disappointed with the US administration’s reluctance to delve into technical details about uranium enrichment, advanced centrifuges and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Iran’s optimism after the second round of talks, the US keeping some of the details secret, and the third round already scheduled for next week indicate the failure of Israel’s attempt at influence.
“Instead, Israel is increasingly discussing the need to take advantage of Iran’s unique window of vulnerability to strike at its nuclear infrastructure,” The Jerusalem Post writes.
This stems from the fact that the Israeli Air Force in October 2024 disabled Iran’s best air defence systems and significantly weakened the military capabilities of Hezbollah and Hamas, which could respond to a strike on Tehran.
Context:
In 2021, during Joe Biden’s term in office, Israel managed to thwart an attempt to quickly conclude a deal with Iran after then-Mossad Director Yossi Cohen met with Biden in person. Then, unexpectedly for Tehran, the United States took a tougher stance on advanced centrifuges.
However, the current Trump team seems eager to sign a new deal with Iran, even if it is much weaker than Israel’s demands, as long as it can be presented as better than the 2015 Obama deal.
