Middle East peace process

The U.S. has determined a deadline to reach an agreement in the faltering nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna that will come “within weeks,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said from Jerusalem on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned against an interim agreement with Iran the U.S. is considering, a day before nuclear talks with are set to resume in Vienna after a five month hiatus.

The threat of war is the only chance of pressuring Iran into a diplomatic process, former Middle East peacemaker under the Clinton and Obama administrations, Dennis Ross, wrote in an oped in Foreign Policy magazine.

The Biden administration’s continued appeasement of Iran may leave Israel with no choice but to attack its nuclear facilities, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Opening the early session Monday of the final session of speakers at the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Iran is still funding terrorist groups in the Middle East that seek to destroy Israel.

NEW YORK — The Biden administration is imploring Iran to quickly return to talks on its nuclear program after a three-month hiatus caused by its government transition, warning that the window for negotiations may soon close.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Monday and said the two “laid the foundation for deep ties” in what was the first official visit by leaders from the countries in a decade.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad slammed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday for “stabbing the Palestinian people in the back” by meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz a day earlier.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met in Ramallah on Sunday, in the first face-to-face talks in over a decade.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told President Joe Biden in their closed-door meeting on Friday that despite heavily opposing a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, he won’t publicly campaign against it like his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan will ultimately benefit Israel because it frees up resources that can be used to support the Jewish state, White House officials said on Tuesday.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi invited Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday for an official visit in the next few weeks via Cairo’s spy chief, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

The Biden administration may have allegedly been involved in an illegal coverup over the Palestinian government’s support for terrorism, a legal watchdog group said on Wednesday.

On a visit to Israel, a top Bahraini diplomat said the Obama-led 2015 Iran nuclear deal had done nothing but leave the region with more turmoil, violence, hatred and death.

Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar warned United Nations envoy Tor Wennesland on Monday the terror group would resume violence if Israel failed to allow $30 million in Qatari donations to be transferred to Gaza, Israel’s public broadcaster reported.

Following the election of Iranian hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as the next Iranian president, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Sunday against Iran’s “regime of executioners” obtaining a nuclear bomb, adding Raisi’s election should be a “wake up call” for western powers hoping to resuscitate the tattered nuclear deal.

Russia is ready to enhance Iran’s spying capabilities by giving the Islamic republic access to an advanced satellite system, according to a U.S. media report.

Iran’s failure to answer questions about the discovery of uranium particles at former undeclared sites in the country puts its claims about the “peaceful nature” of its nuclear program into question, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.

As a coalition of anti-Benjamin Netanyahu politicians look to drive him from Israeli politics, many are seizing the opportunity to recast the legacy and motivations of one of the most consequential world leaders of the last century, according to Aaron Klein, a senior adviser to the prime minister.

In order for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to hold up, Jews must be barred from visiting the Temple Mount — Judaism’s holiest site — in Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned Iran is enriching uranium to levels that “only countries making bombs” reach, and added Tehran’s nuclear program had reached the point of no return and could not go back to where it was at the time of the 2015 Obama-led deal.

Any violations of the holy sites in Jerusalem would trigger a regional war, the head of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, warned on Tuesday.

TEHRAN — A string of military figures on the list of Iranian presidential hopefuls is stirring unease over a possible militarisation of the Islamic republic’s politics.

The Obama-era nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran could be revived within weeks, a senior State Department official claimed Thursday, adding the decision to do so is entirely up to Tehran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Israel and the U.S. agree on never allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel on Sunday–marking the first official visit from a Biden administration official–and met with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

The Biden administration is planning a “reset” with the Palestinians after the relationship crumbled under former President Donald Trump, according to an internal State Department memo.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez’s says he has concern over the Taliban not fulfilling their obligations under the deal they signed in 2020 with the Trump administration. 

The U.S. and Israel will launch a strategic working group on Iran in the coming days, which will focus on intelligence assessments about its nuclear program, Axios reported on Wednesday.

MUSCAT — Iran must refrain from any provocation as Washington steps up efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the head of US forces in the Middle East told AFP.

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday indefinitely postponed planned visits this month to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain due to Israel’s ongoing coronavirus travel restrictions.

An Iranian official announced Thursday that the country is “ahead of schedule” in enriching uranium to a purity level of 20%, and is installing additional centrifuges in nuclear testing sites.

Israel’s military chief on Tuesday warned President Joe Biden against reentering the 2015 nuclear deal, even with modified terms, and added he had ordered his forces to lay the groundwork for strikes against Iran.

TEHRAN — A top Iranian official Wednesday said arch-foe Israel was waging a “psychological war” after the Jewish state’s army said new “offensive options” were being drawn up in case they were needed against the Islamic republic.

President Joe Biden plans to reopen the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington shuttered by the Trump administration as well as reinstate U.S. aid to the Palestinians, acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Israel this week announced it has opened its embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), four months after the two countries signed the historic normalization deal brokered by the Trump administration.