Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington this week amid fears in Israel that Donald Trump will strike a weak deal with Iran.
Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was due to travel to the US in mid-February for the first meeting of Mr Trump’s Peace Council.
But the meeting was advanced following the initial round of US-Iran talks in Oman on Friday. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, represented the US.
Israel is demanding that any negotiated deal include limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its support for terrorist groups, rather than just its nuclear ambitions.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he wanted the talks to extend well beyond Iran’s nuclear program. However, there is uneasiness in Israel that Mr Trump will ultimately favor a “narrow” nuclear enrichment deal that will do little to address Israel’s other concerns.
While the talks were initially hailed as positive, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, has since ruled out his country abandoning uranium enrichment. Some observers suggest they said it may have been aimed at appeasing hardliners at home rather than a negotiating tactic.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff with Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, Oman’s foreign minister, in Muscat for US-Iran talks on Friday – Getty
On Monday, Iran’s atomic chief said he might agree to dilute the most enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of all sanctions.
Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, said: “The possibility of diluting enriched uranium by 60% … depends on whether or not all sanctions are instead lifted.”
In Iran, several prominent reformist politicians were arrested in a sweeping crackdown on those who criticized the regime’s deadly crackdown on protests. The arrests target leaders of the Reformist Front, a coalition of 27 parties that backed President Masoud Pezeshkian in the 2024 election.
It suggests hardliners are moving to silence any voice that might complicate the nuclear negotiations or challenge the regime’s narrative of protest and talk.
Security forces detained Azar Mansouri, head of the Reformist Front, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Aminzadeh, Javad Imam, spokesman for the coalition of moderate political groups, and Ali Shakouri Rad, a member of the Central Council of the National Union Party.
As thousands of protesters were killed last month, the Reform Front issued a statement saying “a large part of Iranian citizens have lost faith in all the institutions and capacities that were supposed to be the refuge, representative and follower of their demands.”
The group called for an independent truth-finding committee and a “transparent and honest report” to the Iranian people.
Tehran newspaper reports start of US-Iran nuclear talks following death of thousands of protesters – Anadolu
It also asked the Supreme National Security Council to explain “how, with the presence of this volume of security, intelligence and law enforcement institutions, according to their own official accounts, such a large number of ‘unknown armed elements’ were able to be active throughout the country and systematically and mercilessly kill thousands of Iranian citizens?”
This question struck at the heart of the Iranian regime’s narrative about the protests, implicitly challenging whether official accounts of the violence were accurate.
The Islamic Republic blamed the deaths on “terrorists” and “unknown armed elements” backed by foreigners, instead of acknowledging that security forces opened fire on the protesters.
Mehdi Karroubi, whose son was arrested on Monday, issued a statement after the crackdown, saying Iran’s “serious situation is a direct result of the destructive domestic and international interventions and policies” of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
By detaining reformist leaders who supported President Pezeshkian’s election, the authorities are signaling that even those within the political establishment will not be tolerated if they question the handling of dissent.
Meanwhile, Narges Mohammadi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, was also sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by an Iranian court.
Satellite images show damage to Iran’s Isfahan nuclear complex following airstrikes in June – Vantor
The US now has a sizeable strike force close to Iran, with insufficient assets in the region while protesters were being massacred by the regime last month. Initially wary, Israel is now believed to be excited by Trump’s launch of strikes.
Accompanying Mr Netanyahu on his visit this week is Brigadier General Omer Tischler, the next head of the Israeli air force. It will reportedly share Israeli intelligence with American counterparts to maximize the effectiveness of any strikes and improve coordination with the Israel Defense Forces.
Reports in the US suggest that Trump is cooling the idea of military action because it would not necessarily lead to a decisive outcome – namely the overthrow of the regime.
He is also being heavily lobbied by the Gulf states, many of whom are key allies in his Gaza peace process and the wider Peace Council, not to launch a war. They fear the instability of an overthrown or badly damaged Tehran more than the regime in its current form.
Although Kushner and Witkoff are key allies when it comes to Gaza, they are seen in Israel as relatively in tune with Iran, with security officials speaking favorably of the more blunt approach of Mr Rubio and Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary.
On Monday, Kamal Kharazi, an adviser to Mr. Khamenei, described the talks as “good” but added: “America must have understood that the previous paths lead nowhere and that they must follow new paths.”
The supreme leader continues to avoid making public appearances that could leave him vulnerable to an assassination attempt in the US or domestically. That includes failing to attend an Iranian air force event on Sunday that the supreme leader has attended for 37 years.