Israel’s foreign minister said on Friday that his country was determined to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, after Tehran promised to step up its uranium enrichment process.
‘We will do everything necessary to prevent extremists [in Iran] to succeed, and will certainly prevent this regime from possessing a nuclear weapon, ‘Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told reporters during a visit to Cyprus.
Iranian officials say the country has begun enriching uranium to 60% purity following an attack on its nuclear power plant on Sunday in Natanz, in the middle of Iran, which blamed Israel.
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Askenazi, a former army chief, met with the foreign ministers of Cyprus and Greece, Nikos Christodoulides and Nikos Dendias, as well as Anwar Gargash, a top presidential aide in the United Arab Emirates.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalized relations in a key agreement last year, and the four countries represented at the meeting on Friday pledged to promote cooperation in defense, energy, tourism and other sectors.
Meanwhile, Washington told Israel in uncertain terms that the ‘gossip’ about his alleged involvement in the explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility should stop earlier this week, warning that it was dangerous and detrimental, as well as an embarrassment to the Biden government it is trying to negotiate a return to the nuclear deal with Tehran, Channel 12 News reported on Friday.
According to the report without notice, the message has been transmitted to Jerusalem through several channels in recent days.
The network further quoted the unnamed Israeli security officials who expressed concern about the uncharacteristic extent to which Israel allowed itself to be bound by the attack on the nuclear site. Officials questioned whether the increase was in an attempt to influence nuclear negotiations in Vienna, or an attempt by the prime minister to use Iran for internal political gain.
Israel has not officially commented on the sabotage at Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant, which according to an Iranian official damaged or destroyed thousands of centrifuges.
But there is enough anonymous confirmation in the Israeli and foreign media by unnamed intelligence officials, with detailed reports of the bombing that reportedly cut off the power supply to centrifuges and caused some major damage to them. And officials, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have alluded to Israel’s responsibility.
Israel is normally silent about the secret exploitation of its security services, and Israel’s military censorship regularly prevents such information from being published, forcing local media to name foreign media reports, but this has not happened this time.
Iran blamed Israel directly for the attack and took revenge.
Amid heightened tensions, Israel’s security cabinet would meet on Sunday for the first time in about two and a half months to discuss recent developments. High-level forum meetings are usually a weekly affair, but are another victim of the continuing dysfunction in the power-sharing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Iran’s moves come under pressure from negotiators in Vienna amid talks over restoring its nuclear deal with world powers following the attack on its main enrichment site.
US President Joe Biden on Friday also called Tehran’s latest move in violation of the agreement. “We do not support and think it is not useful at all,” he said. But he added that the Vienna talks had not been canceled.
“We are nevertheless pleased that Iran has agreed to continue to hold indirect talks with us on how we are moving forward and what is needed to come back” in the nuclear deal, he said. “It is premature to judge what the outcome will be, but we are still talking.
