US tells Israel 2015 nuclear deal with Iran 'off the table': Report

The United States is not looking to strike a new nuclear deal with Tehran, and any arrangement in consultation with the international partners and allies is "off the table," the Hebrew newspaper Zman Yisrael reported on Wednesday, citing insider sources. Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid was informed about the Iran nuclear deal hitting a deadlock by US President Joe Biden and other administration officials. "This outcome is likely to be touted by Lapid in the coming election campaign, particularly against opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly attacked the premier on the issue," The Times of Israel's sister publication reported. 

Tel Aviv has been 'pressurizing' US to scrap the deal

Since the revival of dialogue related to Iran's 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna,  Tel Aviv has been pressurizing the United States to scrap the deal with the rival nation whom it accuses of funding terr factions. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told reporters in Israel that his government will continue to push the Biden administration to halt any signing of a nuclear deal with terror sponsor Iran. Israeli government had also dispatched its intelligence service Mossad's chief David Barnea to Washington last month.

Barnea held discussions with the White House, CIA, and Pentagon officials about risks associated with the revival of the JCPOA agreement and sanctions relief to Tehran. Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other senior Israeli officials have been utmostly vocal about scrapping the 2015 nuclear deal. “This deal isn’t a good deal. It was not a good deal when it was signed back in 2015. Today, the dangers it entails are even greater,” Lapid said at a briefing last week. Biden's administration kept Israel its longtime strategic ally "closely informed" about the progress. 

Uranium Conversion Facility just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran. Credit: AP

Israel accuses Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb via enrichment of Uranium at its centrifuges. Iran however says that it agrees to return to strict compliance with the JCPOA terms in exchange for economic benefits from the deal. The new Iranian nuclear deal has been at the centre of Israel’s diplomatic and security consultations since over a year. The negotiations resumed after Democrat president Biden entered the White House in January 2021. Former US president Donald Trump had unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal citing a breach of norms underscored in the deal by the Iranian government.