Sharjah 24 – AFP: Iran is five years away from developing a nuclear weapon, and international talks due to restart next week will do nothing to slow it down, Israel said on Tuesday, adding it reserved the right to act to protect itself.
Indirect negotiations to revive the 2015 accord, under which Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions, are due to resume in Vienna next Monday after a five-month pause.
Israel long opposed the nuclear deal, but Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government, in power since June, had previously said it could be open to a new deal with tougher restrictions. In remarks on Tuesday to a security forum, however, he sounded less accommodating.
Bennett described Iran, which denies it is pursuing nuclear arms, as being at "the most advanced stage" of a nuclear weapons programme.
"In any event, even if there is a return to a deal, Israel is of course not a party to the deal and Israel is not obligated by the deal," he told the conference, hosted by Reichman University.
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said: "With or without an agreement, Iran will be a nuclear state and have a nuclear weapon within five years, tops."
Israel has also complained that the nuclear agreement does nothing to rein in Iran's missile programme, or hostile activity by Iranian-backed militia.
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