PM, who was visiting Washington, said to have been informed of negotiations only hours before US president’s statement, given no guarantees about what will happen if they fall through
Times of Israel
The White House said Tuesday that Tehran was ‘moving in’ the direction of a deal with Washington on reining in Iran’s nuclear program, reiterating US President Donald Trump’s warning that the Islamic Republic would have ‘hell to pay’ if it failed to reach an agreement.
‘The president has re-imposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime,’ said US State Department spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a press briefing in Washington. ‘If they don’t choose to move forward with diplomacy and a deal, which is the direction we do see them headed in, there will be grave consequences.’
The comment came a day after Trump announced during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington that the US would start direct talks with Iran on Saturday.
According to Channel 12 news, Netanyahu, who thought his surprise trip to Washington would focus on tariffs, was informed by the White House of the new talks with Iran just two hours before Trump’s announcement. Netanyahu was reportedly given no assurances that Israel’s demands would be met in the talks, or regarding what would happen if the talks failed or how the US would respond if Iran reneged on a potential deal.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said he and Trump ‘agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons,’ and that a potential nuclear deal will work only if Iran’s nuclear facilities are physically blown up and dismantled.
Iran confirmed the talks but said they would be indirect. Iranian state media reported Tuesday that the negotiations would be held in Oman, mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi and led by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reinstated his ‘maximum pressure’ policy, which in his first term saw the United States withdraw from a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that Iran can expect tighter sanctions if it does not come to an agreement with Trump on its nuclear program.
‘So absolutely, I would expect very tight sanctions on Iran, and hopefully drive them to abandon their nuclear program,’ Wright said in an interview with CNBC.
US media reported in February that the American intelligence community assessed Israel could strike Iran this year, after having significantly degraded the Islamic Republic’s terror proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen, and following the ouster in December of Iran-backed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Trump himself has said that ‘there will be bombing’ if Iran fails to sign a nuclear deal.
‘Can’t turn down the invitation’
In a (Hebrew) video statement released shortly before he departed from Washington for Israel on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that ending Iran’s nuclear weapons program can be achieved diplomatically, but only as part of an arrangement similar to the 2003 nuclear disarmament of Libya, during which US forces destroyed or shipped out the components of the country’s nuclear program.
He said he and Trump ‘agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. This can be done by agreement, but only if the agreement is a Libya-style agreement,’ he said, whereby those responsible ‘go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision with American execution. That is good,’ said Netanyahu.
‘A second possibility is that this does not happen’ and Iran ‘simply drags out talks. And then the option is military. Everyone understands this,’ he said, adding that he and Trump discussed that eventuality at length.
According to Channel 12, Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was instigated when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Netanyahu’s team that he ought to fly out as soon as possible.
Netanyahu’s circle believed the main reason for the unexpected invitation was the new 17% levy on Israeli goods that the White House announced as part of a raft of punishing tariffs.
The premier, who was in Budapest, flew to the US on Sunday after noting in a statement at the airport that he would be the first world leader to meet with Trump in person about the tariffs.
Only when Netanyahu met Witkoff at the Blair House on Monday did the US Mideast envoy tell the premier that the real reason for the hasty invitation was Iran and update him on the talks with Tehran.
When Netanyahu and his team met with Trump and his team at the White House soon after, Channel 12 reported, the US president began the meeting with the question, ‘What do you have to say on Iran?’
Channel 12 said Netanyahu set out his position about the only acceptable deal with Iran being along the lines of the Libyan model and discussed the need for military action if necessary.
Trump, for his part, reportedly indicated that there are 60 days from Saturday allocated for the talks, and said that Witkoff would keep Israel in the picture as to their progress.
However, the report said, Trump did not commit to meeting Israeli demands as regards an ‘acceptable deal’ and did not give commitments regarding what the US would do, including militarily, if the talks fail or if the Iranians don’t honor any deal.
An Israeli official cited by Channel 12 said there was ‘no great difference’ between what was said behind closed doors and what Trump and Netanyahu said publicly in the Oval Office when they emerged from their meeting. The official said Netanyahu’s visit to Washington ‘could have been a phone call, but you can’t turn down the invitation.’