In Vienna, an Iranian nuclear agreement would be “imminent”, according to Israel. The talks between signatories of the 2015 agreement (China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Iran), must save the resolutions taken at that time, namely a broad lifting of international economic sanctions in exchange for strict limitations to its nuclear program supposed to prevent it from acquiring the atomic bomb. But the exit from the United States agreement in 2018, by Donald Trump deeming it insufficient, had led Tehran to free itself from these restrictions.
Israel fears an agreement “more fragile than the previous one”
Today, many experts estimate that Iran is only a handful of weeks away from having enough fissile material to manufacture a nuclear weapon – even if it still takes several complex steps to arrive at the bomb itself. And if the United States reported “substantial progress” on Thursday, Israel, which fears for its security, expects an agreement “more fragile than the previous one”.
During a 90-minute telephone exchange on Saturday, Emmanuel Macron “stressed the imperative need to conclude an agreement while there is still time” and asked his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raïssi to “seize” the opportunity to save the agreement. from Vienna. On this occasion, Emmanuel Macron “expressed the conviction that the discussions held with the active participation of France and its partners have made it possible to reach a solution that respects the essential interests of all the stakeholders, which would make it possible to avoid a serious nuclear crisis”.
