Visiting US, Kohavi raises objections to nuclear deal

Military chief Aviv Kohavi warns American officials against their government’s plan to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal this week during a visit to Washington, DC, as part of a last-ditch effort by Israel to affect the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran in Vienna.

The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff arrived in Israel on Sunday and has spent the past two days in meetings with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the military says.

“The chief of staff presented the failures of the current nuclear deal, which allow Iran to make significant advances in the coming years in the quantity and quality of centrifuges and in the amount and quality of enriched uranium, and he stressed the lack of oversight in the area of developing a nuclear weapon,” the IDF says in a statement.

Kohavi’s visit to the US, which was delayed due to last month’s Gaza conflict, comes as indirect talks between Washington and Tehran pick up steam, following the election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s next president last week.

“The chief of staff restated the risk inherent in returning to the original nuclear agreement and stressed that everything must be done to prevent Iran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities,” the IDF says.