TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel would be ready to accept a return to a US-brokered nuclear deal with Iran, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Foreign police– but Israeli officials are also urging Washington to prepare a serious “show of power” in case negotiations with Tehran fail.

The remarks, made in an exclusive interview last week, appear to reflect a shift in policy for Israel, which, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, strongly opposed the 2015 nuclear deal and worked to undermine it.

Former US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018, but the Biden administration has renewed diplomacy, even as Iran moves closer to enriching enough uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel would be ready to accept a return to a US-brokered nuclear deal with Iran, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Foreign police– but Israeli officials are also urging Washington to prepare a serious “show of power” in case negotiations with Tehran fail.

The remarks, made in an exclusive interview last week, appear to reflect a shift in policy for Israel, which, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, strongly opposed the 2015 nuclear deal and worked to undermine it.

Former US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018, but the Biden administration has renewed diplomacy, even as Iran moves closer to enriching enough uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

Gantz, when asked about the Biden administration’s efforts to return to a deal with Iran, said: “The current US approach of putting Iran’s nuclear program back in a box, I would accept it.”

He added that Israel would like to see a “viable US-led Plan B” that includes broad economic pressure on Iran in case the talks fail. And he nodded to Israel’s own “Plan C”, which would involve military action.

Gantz estimated Iran was two or three months away from having the materials and capabilities to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran has steadily stepped up its nuclear work since the United States withdrew from the deal, despite a so-called maximum pressure campaign put forward by Trump and Netanyahu that included sanctions and sabotage efforts.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett criticized Netanyahu on the same issue on Tuesday, to the Israeli channel Channel 12 News: “Israel inherited a situation in which Iran is at the most advanced point of its bomb race. … The gap between [Netanyahu’s] rhetoric, speeches and actions are very important.

Gantz was skeptical of the chances that diplomacy would succeed in reversing Iran’s progress. He described what Israel would consider a “viable” relief plan: the political, diplomatic and economic pressure imposed on Tehran by the United States, Europe, Russia and, most importantly, China.

“We must also connect China in this area, Asia must play a role,” Gantz said, stressing the key trade ties between Iran and Asian countries. “Israel does not have the capacity to carry out a real Plan B, we cannot put in place a regime of international economic sanctions. It has to be led by the United States.

“Iran must be concerned that the United States and its partners are serious,” Gantz said.

At the same time, the IDF was preparing its own measures to stop Iran’s nuclear progress. “If the situation arises, we will get there,” Gantz said, emphasizing the point in switching from Hebrew to English. “We are not America, but we have our capabilities.”

Gantz warned of a regional nuclear arms race that would ensue if Iran managed to cross the threshold.

“The other states will not stand still,” Gantz said. “They will buy it directly from Pakistan or whoever it is. “

He said the recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan had the long-term potential to embolden Iran and its proxies.

Gantz is a former army chief who earlier in his career commanded Israeli troops stationed in Lebanon, part of which Israel occupied for nearly two decades before withdrawing in 2000. Some analysts have compared the withdrawal American from Afghanistan with the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, a parallel Gantz himself has raised.

“There are no happy withdrawals,” Gantz said. The US decision to leave “was perfectly understandable … otherwise you could be there forever.” But he also said Iran should not be allowed to conclude from the withdrawal that “all you have to do is stay strong and determined and the West will fall back.”

During the hour-long interview at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, just days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Gantz said the “clash of civilizations” between the West and militant groups around the world was still going.

He also touched on relations with the Palestinians, stressing that Israel would not remove any settlements from the West Bank, while maintaining that in the long term “we need two political entities here”.

Gantz met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas late last month, the first high-level meeting in a decade. But Bennett, an ultra-nationalist and former leader of the colonies, stressed that the meeting did not herald a new peace process.

Gantz did not disagree, but stressed the importance of maintaining ties with Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, “a value of the utmost importance”. Gantz has taken the lead on the Palestinian issue in the new government, with Israel agreeing to several economic and civil measures in recent weeks to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the West Bank.

He said there is no appetite for a deal in the government he serves – led by Bennett – and no prospect of real negotiations as long as the Palestinians remain divided between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as the Islamist group Hamas controls. Additionally, Abbas had so far failed to demonstrate his ability to make historic decisions, Gantz said.

“Abbas still dreams of the 1967 lines [as the basis for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and an end to the conflict]- that won’t happen, ”Gantz said. “He must realize that we are staying there. … We are not removing the settlements.

Asked about the prospects for another war between Israel and Gaza, Gantz said he hoped the new government’s more forceful military responses to attacks from within the territory, coupled with more economic aid, would work against the appetite of the government. fight of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

“Sinwar also has pressure, and 2 million [Gaza] residents on his head, ”Gantz said. “He’s a little too full of himself that what I think is justified. If that is not enough for him, then we are stronger.

Gantz became a politician just three years ago after a career in the military. But he has already known the dramatic ups and downs that accompany Israeli political life.

A year ago, his political future looked uncertain: his power-sharing deal with Netanyahu was crumbling and many former allies laughed at him for trusting the then prime minister, a cunning politician famous for outsmarting rivals.

But Gantz said he was fully vindicated, having first prevented Netanyahu from winning successive elections and then helped him topple him. “It was a difficult trip, but a successful trip,” he said.

Asked about media speculation that his relations with top cabinet ministers are troubled, Gantz said he “hoped” that the new government – a coalition of centrist, left and right-wing factions, as well as a Islamist Arab – would fulfill its mandate. .

“Overall the government is functioning well, we are making room for each other [to work] … But I am the leader in security, ”he said.

It is uncertain whether such a disparate coalition will ever end the military threats Netanyahu has made against Iran for years over its nuclear program (and which Gantz and others are now echoing) remains. uncertain.

“The cabinet will decide whatever is necessary… and I am sure that if we demand that the military act, they will provide us with solutions,” Gantz said. “It won’t change. “