On your mark, get set, talk

Talks between Iran and world powers are set to recommence, and the Israeli press is chomping at the bit for a little bit of action — one way or the other.

“Maybe this time,” reads Yedioth Ahronoth‘s headline, anticipating a possible breakthrough in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The paper reports that as diplomats are gathering once more in Geneva, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to fly to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He will in all likelihood use the meeting to try to influence the deal that’s coalescing, which he’s termed ‘a terrible deal and a historic mistake,'” the paper writes. Yedioth also quotes Economics Minister Naftali Bennett telling Christianne Amanpour in a CNN interview that “a bad deal will lead to war and a good deal will prevent it.”

While Yedioth’s remark about Netanyahu’s trip is almost an afterthought, Maariv sees the trip to Moscow as another ploy to put the screws to Washington. The paper writes that the US State Department believes that Netanyahu “is trying to undermine the US’s efforts to sign a deal with Iran.” It quotes “European diplomatic sources” saying that they’re worried that Netanyahu “will try to torpedo the Americans’ efforts also to bring a breakthrough in the talks between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Maariv adds that Netanyahu will likely try to convince Putin to toughen Russia’s stance on the Iranian deal, whereas Putin will try to “rein in Netanyahu to support the deal” amid tensions between Israel and Washington.

“It’s likely that Putin will also convey to Netanyahu calming messages from Iranian President [Hassan] Rouhani, with whom [Putin] spoke two days ago,” the paper says.

Israel Hayom leaves little room for uncertainty as to what its opinion is about a possible impending agreement with Tehran. In the least ambiguous terms, it runs a headline which reads: “A bad deal within touching distance.” Boaz Bismuth, the paper’s correspondent, quotes a European diplomat saying that the deal can be sealed within 10 minutes.

“The Iranians know exactly what’s expected of them,” the anonymous source says, adding that the Iranians really want to sign a deal.

Bismuth reports that reporters, diplomats and doctors are rushing to Geneva “as if it were the World Cup.” He explains that right next to the hall where the talks are taking place is a medical conference, so Bismuth takes the opportunity to make wisecracks.

“Ushers directed the reporters and visitors so they wouldn’t be confused by the two events. Perhaps the Iranians have no problem confusing the two, since as far as they’re concerned uranium enriched to 20 percent is intended for treating cancer patients,” he writes. “Someone just forgot to explain to [Iranian] Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif that the amounts that the Iranians have enriched are enough for several centuries.”

The paper also quotes Netanyahu saying “The Iranians want to return to the Middle Ages.”

Haaretz focuses instead on the Beirut bombing on Tuesday that left at least 25 dead. According to the report, a suicide bomber and a car bomb detonated outside the Iranian Embassy in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. The paper reports that, almost like clockwork, the Iranian ambassador blamed Israel for the bombing. In the end a group affiliated with al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack that left dozens dead, at least 155 injured, leveled one building and left several others damaged.

Maariv has by far the most riveting story of the day about a group of Iranian Jews demonstrating in support of the country’s acquisition of peaceful nuclear energy outside the UN building in Tehran.

“They expressed support for Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who issued a fatwa that nuclear weapons are a grave sin,” the paper writes. “With Torah scrolls in their hands, the demonstrators held a mass prayer session for the success of the Iranian delegation in Geneva.”

Yedioth Ahronoth also reports on a training accident on the Lebanese border that left two paratrooper officers injured Tuesday night. One was moderately wounded and the other lightly injured after an explosive charge went off while they were trying to disarm it.

“It is still not clear whether the officers broke safety regulations governing the treatment of explosive materiel, or whether it was a technical mishap,” the paper writes. “The IDF emphasized that it was an accident and that it wasn’t a terrorist attack.”

The Middle East’s balance of power might be at stake, but for Haaretz, there’s also the issue of the disappearing birds. According to the paper, a recent study found that there has been a marked decline in the number of birds nesting in Israel, and that several species are endangered. Of the approximately 190 birds that nest in the country, roughly 40 of them are at risk of extinction, the paper quotes a local ornithologist involved in the five-year study saying. One of the major causes mentioned is destruction of the birds’ natural habitat.