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** Iran's "Nuclear Blackmail": Iran Has No Interest in Negotiating a New Nuclear Deal ([link removed])
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by Con Coughlin • January 5, 2022 at 5:00 am
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* "If the Iranians think the world does not seriously intend to stop them, they will race towards the bomb. We must make it clear that the world will not allow this to happen. There needs to be a credible military threat on the table." — Yair Lapid, Israeli Foreign Minister, interview with the author, December, 2021.
* Mr Lapid's calls have been echoed by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who, following talks with Mr Bennett in Jerusalem, called for world powers to adopt a "common strategy" for dealing with Iran.
* Mr Lapid's concerns about Iran's approach to the Vienna talks are supported by Western security officials closely monitoring the negotiations, who state that, far from taking a constructive approach to the negotiations, the Iranians are simply playing for time.
* In the meantime Iran has sought to string out the negotiations in Vienna by concentrating on relatively minor issues, such as whether UN inspectors can have surveillance cameras operating at key sites. Iran's obstructive conduct, moreover, is being backed by Russia and China, which were also signatories to the 2015 deal but now want to embarrass the Biden administration by ensuring the current round of talks end in failure.
* The hardline approach being adopted by Tehran certainly makes the prospect of military action to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities more likely in 2022, with US military officials confidently asserting that, if military option is required, it would be possible to target Iran's entire nuclear programme.
* The big question that remains, though, is whether, if the talks do fail, Mr Biden will have the resolve to initiate military action, or will instead seek to hit Iran with more -- ineffective -- sanctions.
* In the meantime, Tehran continues to work on its controversial uranium enrichment activities so that, unless urgent action is taken soon, the world could soon find itself having to confront a nuclear-armed Iran.

Western intelligence agencies are warning that Iran could be just weeks away from producing the weapons grade uranium required to build nuclear warheads. Tehran continues to work on its uranium enrichment activities so that, unless urgent action is taken soon, the world could soon find itself having to confront a nuclear-armed Iran. Pictured: The Isfahan uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, Iran. (Photo by Getty Images)

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's observation that Iran is engaging in "nuclear blackmail" with Western negotiators provides a damning indictment of the current state of play regarding the negotiations being held in Vienna on Tehran's nuclear activities.

With Western intelligence agencies warning that Iran could be just weeks away from producing the weapons grade uranium required to build nuclear warheads, there is mounting concern over progress being made at the Vienna talks, which are trying to revive the flawed 2015 deal agreed by the Obama administration.

Instead of taking the negotiations seriously, however, Western negotiators -- including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken -- have expressed frustration that Iran is using the talks as a delaying tactic while it continues work on its uranium enrichment activities, which have now moved well beyond the level originally agreed upon in the 2015 deal.

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