Israeli Officials Say Biden Close to Declaring Iran Talks a Failure

Iran continues to push for face-to-face meeting

Citing officials familiar with Israeli National Security Adviser’s visit to DC, Israeli media are claiming that the Iran nuclear talks are on the brink of collapse, and that President Biden is close to declaring the entire matter a failure.

That Israel is claiming this must be taken with a grain of salt, as Israel has very openly wanted the talks to fail, and might just be saying this to try to undermine them further. There are reasons the claim might be credible, however.

This comes after a weekend conversation between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, in which Biden was invited to Israel. Reports are that Iran would be a topic of discussion for the visit.

There is no date for the visit yet, and it’s expected in months, which suggests they’re not expecting quick changes on Iran. At the same time, Iran started pushing for face-to-face meetings, clearly suggesting they too see the visit as a potential negative sign.

Israel is presenting this as a stalled talk over Iran wanting the IRGC taken off the terror blacklist. EU officials have contested this, however, saying this was not the only issue left, and they seemed to believe it wasn’t a deal-breaker.

That failed talks are exactly what Israel wants means this could also be wishful thinking. The Biden visit is going to be very much about trying to undercut Iran diplomacy, and this may just be the start of Israel damaging the environment for talks.

There is no deadline on the talks, despite the sense of urgency. The US, however, has been keen to claim that time is running out, something they say often when the talks aren’t making obvious progress.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.