Gantz Says Israel Could Accept New Iran Nuclear Deal

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he was prepared to accept a scenario in which the US negotiates a fresh nuclear deal with Iran, in a rare comment from a senior government official not rejecting such a multilateral accord out of hand.

“The current US approach of putting the Iran nuclear program back in a box, I’d accept that,” Gantz told Foreign Policy in an interview published Tuesday, employing rhetoric used by the Biden administration to describe the goal of the 2015 nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

While Israeli defense officials not in government have indicated a degree of tolerance for the JCPOA or a negotiated nuclear deal of any kind in the past, that sentiment has not extended to public officials, and Gantz appears to be the most senior cabinet member to reflect it on the record.

However, a spokesperson for the minister later clarified that Gantz does not support an American return to the JCPOA, but rather maintains that Israel would accept some other longer, broader and stronger nuclear agreement.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett assured US President Joe Biden at the White House last month that he would not publicly campaign against Washington’s efforts to coax Iran back to the 2015 accord brokered by former US president Barack Obama and abrogated by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump in 2018, Israeli officials said.

That was a departure from Bennett’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, who campaigned aggressively against the JCPOA and even accepted an invitation to address a joint session of Congress where he unsuccessfully lobbied lawmakers against the deal in 2015, aggravating an already growing rift between Israel and the US Democratic Party.

Bennett, however, has also made it clear that he opposes a negotiated nuclear deal and has not publicly stated that its resurrection is something that Israel could live with, as Gantz did in his Tuesday interview.

The defense minister also made clear that he wanted to see a “viable US-led plan B” that includes significant political, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Tehran imposed jointly by the US, Europe, Russia, and China — as well as a credible military threat — if talks in Vienna seeking a US-Iran return to the JCPOA fail to bear fruit.

“We have to connect China in this too, Asia has to play a role,” Gantz said, noting Iran’s growing economic ties with the Far East. “Israel has no ability to lead a real plan B, we can’t put together an international economic sanctions regime. This has to be led by the US.”

“Iran has to fear that the US and its partners are serious,” he added.

Gantz also indicated to Foreign Policy that Israel had its own “plan C” that would involve military action.

“If push comes to shove, we’ll get there,” Gantz said, switching to English to make the point, adding: “We’re not America, but we have our capabilities.”

He went on to warn that if world powers fail to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, it’ll lead to a nuclear arms race.