Lapid Warns US, Europe: Walk Away from Iran Talks or Look Weak

According to a very senior diplomatic source, “The EU sent Iran a final offer, which does not comport with the principles to which the Americans committed, and established that the offer was ‘take it or leave it.’ Iran refuses the offer, and therefore the time has come to get up and go. Anything else sends a message of weakness.”

Lapid relayed that message to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US Ambassador to the ‘Israeli’-occupied Palestinian territories Tom Nides and chairman of the US Congressional Subcommittee on the Middle East Rep. Ted Deutch [D-Florida] on Thursday, according to the source.

Now is the Tel Aviv regime’s time to discuss what to do moving forward to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the source said.

Lapid’s phone calls came days after Iran responded to what was meant to be a final text of a renewed nuclear deal that the talks’ coordinator, the European Union, tabled by continuing to seek changes.

The US said it was reviewing Iran’s response, which it received from the EU, as the talks are indirect at Tehran’s insistence.

Iran continued to demand guarantees from the US that future presidents will not leave the deal as Donald Trump did in 2018.

In addition, Iran seeks a guarantee that after sanctions are lifted, Western corporations will do business with the Islamic Republic.

The Trump administration left the deal in 2018, opting for more sanctions instead. The Biden administration began negotiating a return to the JCPOA early last year.

The renewed deal, as drafted by the EU, does not extend the JCPOA’s nonproliferation benefits, while offering the same sanctions relief as in 2015.