Mossad chief, Dermer meet US envoy Witkoff in Paris ahead of US-Iran nuclear talks
Israel said looking to influence US position; Katz vows ‘whatever it takes’ to stop Iran from getting the bomb, as Iranian FM says deal possible if US isn’t ‘unrealistic’
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad head David Barnea met with US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff on Friday in Paris, Axios reported, citing three Israeli sources familiar with the meeting.
The unannounced meeting took place ahead of the second session of US-Iran nuclear talks that Witkoff is set to hold in Rome on Saturday. The report said that the Israelis were hoping to influence the US position ahead of the talks amid fears that the Americans could agree to a deal similar to the one the Obama administration reached with Iran in 2015, and which was abandoned in 2018 by US President Donald Trump.
The meeting came amid fallout from a New York Times report on Wednesday, partially confirmed by Trump on Thursday, that Israel planned a joint assault with the US next month on Iran’s nuclear sites, but that Trump vetoed the plan in favor of negotiations.
Neither Israel nor a spokesman for Witkoff commented on the meeting.
However, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday he was committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon: “When I was appointed defense minister, I pledged to lead two central goals: Preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and winning the war.”
Katz continued: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are committed, together with all parties, to leading a clear line that will prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. We will not allow threats of annihilation against the State of Israel.”
“This is our responsibility and historic task, and we will do whatever it takes to realize them,” the defense minister added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier on Friday that the US administration was looking for a peaceful solution with Iran but will never tolerate the country developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran FM: Deal possible if no ‘unrealistic demands’
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that he believes a nuclear deal is possible with the US, so long as Washington does not make “unrealistic demands.” Araghchi added that he wants Russia to play a role in the process.
“If they demonstrate seriousness of intent and do not make unrealistic demands, reaching agreements is possible,” the Iranian diplomat told a news conference in Moscow after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Iran had noted the United States’ seriousness during a first round of talks on the deal, which took place in Oman last week, Araghchi said.
Lavrov, for his part, said that Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding UN Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent Araghchi to Moscow with a letter for Russian President Vladimir Putin to brief the Kremlin about the negotiations.
Araghchi, 62, is a seasoned diplomat who handled some negotiations for Iran’s previous 2015 deal with the US and Western powers regarding its nuclear program.
Witkoff, by contrast, is a businessman and long-time golf partner of the US president who had no formal diplomatic experience prior to his appointment by Trump in 2024 to serve as his special Mideast envoy.
Witkoff’s reversal; Iran’s reported proposal
Since overseeing the first round of negotiations with Araghchi last Saturday — and meeting him face to face — Witkoff has publicly set out contradictory positions.
Witkoff on Monday indicated that the White House was seeking a deal that would limit rather than destroy Iran’s nuclear program, with a low-level cap on uranium enrichment and checks that Iran was not advancing potential weaponization.
The next day, however, he hardened his stance and said that any agreement would require the Islamic Republic to “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”
Araghchi reportedly proposed during the talks last Saturday a three-stage deal that would cap its uranium enrichment to the same levels agreed to in the abandoned 2015 deal in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
According to dissident Iranian news outlet Iran International, citing three diplomatic sources, Iran’s proposal would temporarily decrease uranium enrichment to 3.67%, the level set in the 2015 deal. In exchange, the US would permit Iran to access frozen financial assets and export its oil in the first phase, the outlet said. Uranium is considered weapons-grade when it is enriched to 90%.
In the second phase, the US would lift more sanctions and prevent the snapback of UN sanctions, according to Iran International. In exchange, Iran would reportedly allow the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency to resume its inspections of nuclear sites, while also carrying out the “additional protocol,” allowing the nuclear watchdog to perform surprise inspections of undeclared sites.
In the final stage, the report said, Iran would transfer stockpiles of highly enriched uranium to a third country, the US Congress would ratify the nuclear deal, and the Trump administration would lift primary and secondary sanctions.
Witkoff was said to have surprised the Iranian delegation by welcoming the offer.
Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, says it does not seek nuclear weapons, but has since December increased by about half its already sizable stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium, and is on track to roughly quadruple its production of uranium ore this year, according to international nuclear watchdogs.
The enrichment rate is far beyond what is necessary for a civilian nuclear program and a short step away from weapons-grade. On Thursday, while visiting Tehran, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned that the US and Iran “don’t have much time” to ink a deal.
The Times of Israel Community.