JERUSALEM – When the United States last tried to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran, the Israeli government’s response was blunt and fierce. In the years that preceded Iran’s 2015 agreement with Washington and several other leading powers, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly called their negotiations a ‘historic mistake’, and even delivered a speech to Congress in 2015 in which he Obama administration’s openness to an agreement denied.
But on Friday, the formal announcement that the Biden administration wanted a return to nuclear talks with Iran following the collapse of the 2015 agreement under President Donald Trump was initially received with a subdued response – not only in Jerusalem but also in the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also oppose an overly broad approach to Iran.
The office of mr. Netanyahu issued a brief statement Friday afternoon, avoiding direct comment on the negotiations, but pointed out that Israel was in contact with the United States.
“Israel remains committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and its position on the nuclear deal has not changed,” the statement said. “Israel believes that the return to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.”
Western diplomats and former Israeli officials have said that the Israelis continue to digest the news and work out how to respond, but that they accept the need to enter into constructive talks with Washington instead of rejecting the negotiations outright.
“The question is,” Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s Minister of Community Affairs, said in an interview with The New York Times on Friday, “what is the new government’s policy regarding the outcome of the negotiations?”
The Israeli government was not intrinsic against the negotiations, said Mr. Hanegbi said. But the talks had to lead to a better deal than the one agreed in 2015, which condemned Israel and the Gulf states because the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities would expire within a decade and a half, and did little to curb Iranian military activity. across the Middle East.
“We want the negotiations to emphasize what the world wants to see: a long-term agreement – for at least 50 years, if not more,” Hanegbi said. Israel cannot accept an agreement that expires in four to five years, he added. “It must be an agreement that has been in place for generations. Anything else will not achieve the goal of preventing a nuclear Iran. ”
Saudi and Emirati officials remained silent on Friday. As the Biden administration reaches out to Tehran with resignation, the two Gulf states – who were furious at being excluded from the last round of negotiations – can only hope that the United States will keep its promises to ensure the Gulf interests are represented in the talks. , analysts said.
‘We just have to trust the new administration; we have no option, ”said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political scientist from the Emirates. “They are really determined to reach out to Iran, so no one can stop them.”
But acknowledging that there could be something to gain, he said: “If the end result is less confrontation with Iran, a less aggressive Iran, a less expansionary Iran, it’s a kind of dream.”
The Israeli government has yet to express a clear response to the US policy shift, said Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence. But at least initially, he said, it would take a much less contradictory approach to the Biden administration’s policy-making than with President Barack Obama.
“I think they will be very careful,” he said. Yadlin said about the Israeli government. “The Americans have not yet returned to the agreement, and they will try to create a dialogue that will help the Americans reach a longer and stronger agreement.”
He added: ‘They will virtually not directly confront the Biden administration. They will wait a bit to see if the Iranians respond and how the negotiations develop. ‘
In Europe, where leaders had long hoped that America would return to the table with Iran, there was a more positive response. “The US gives diplomacy a chance,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. wrote on Twitter. “We expressly welcome and support it!”
Maas also warned Iran to take aggressive measures at a time when diplomatic breakthroughs seemed possible. “Now the Iranian leaders must also show that they are serious,” he said.
In Russia – an ally of Iran and a signatory to the nuclear deal – the Biden government’s move meant the Kremlin, for once, had something positive to say in Washington’s direction. It particularly praised how the White House also withdrew from an Trump-era effort to restore United Nations sanctions against Iran.
“The call to stop sanctions is a good thing in itself,” said Dmitry S. Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin. “This is an event that one can probably mark with a plus sign.”
In the Gulf region, which sees Iranian expansionism as a major threat, the mood was more subdued, with undercurrents of pessimism.
Ali Shihabi, a Saudi political commentator considered close to the government, said Saudi Arabia had been showing the Biden government for months that it supported re-engagement with Iran, but only as a goal. a more far-reaching agreement was the 2015 agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“The question now will be, is this just a rhetoric and will the Biden people just deliver an identical version of the JCPOA with all its flaws?” Mr. Shihabi said. ‘Or will it lead to a better agreement and additional restrictions on Iran’s regional behavior? The Biden people make all the right noises, but the proof is in the pudding. ”
Saudi Arabia has stressed the positive in its relations with the Biden government so far and wanted to show that it remains a constructive partner when it comes to Iran or other regional issues, said Eman Alhussein, a Saudi analyst from the Arab Gulf states, said. Washington Institute.
“They want to be seen as part of the solution to these problems,” she said. Alhussein said, adding that Saudi Arabia may want to do so because of the ‘atmosphere of fear’ about the kingdom’s uncertain relationship with the United States.
Biden officials have said they want to recalibrate the partnership in an inevitably cool turn after four years of strong support from the Trump administration.
Patrick Kingsley reports from Jerusalem, and Vivian Yee from Cairo. Reporting was contributed by Irit Pazner Garshowitz in Jerusalem, Steven Erlanger in Brussels, Roger Cohen in Paris, Melissa Eddy in Berlin and Anton Troianovski in Moscow.