Amid U.S. Assurances, Israeli Officials Fear New Iran Deal ‘Even Worse’ than Old One

Israeli officials have expressed concern the U.S. will imminently sign a nuclear deal with Iran that will be “even worse” than the Obama-led 2015 accord, Hebrew-language news outlet Ynet reported, citing a senior Israeli intelligence official.

According to the official, Iran has “suddenly” expressed a renewed interest in reaching a deal, but added it was unlikely to happen quickly.

“The Iranians do not work too fast. We hope the situation is reversible,” the official said. “If they go to a deal, we’ll try to maximize the achievements [for Israel] within the agreement.”

While the official praised former President Donald Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the deal, he said the new one could prove worse for Israel.

“Ultimately, we’ll end up with an even worse deal,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Walla news site cited U.S. officials as saying the Biden administration has attempted to reassure Israel in recent days that a new deal was not “imminent” and that it has not agreed to any new concessions to Tehran.

However, Jerusalem was not calmed by the reassurances, the report

“We may be closer to a deal than we were two weeks ago, but there are still uncertainties about a resolution and differences remain with the Iranians,” an unnamed U.S. official told the site. “At any rate, the signing of a nuclear deal is not expected in the immediate timeframe.”

The site said conversations between Jerusalem and Washington have become “strained” in recent days.

“We are not calm,” one official said. “On the contrary, we are very worried.”

Several reports have emerged that the two sides are nearing an agreement, and that Iran has agreed to drop its demand to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from a the list of foreign terror organizations.