Nuclear deal possible if US resists Israeli pressure, Iranian MP says

"I don't think (the talks) are going to fail, and that is because neither side has a better means of achieving its fundamental objectives," Sir Richard John Dalton, British Ambassador to Iran from 2002 to 2006, told the BBC in an interview on Wednesday.

"For the international community and the United States, that's a high level of assurance that Iran will stick to its commitments and never militarize its nuclear program, and for Iran that it gets some of its internationally linked economy back."

"Another reason for optimism is that President Trump's language has been consistent despite the threats which he should dial down," Dalton continued. "It's been consistent in expressing preference for sorting matters out through dialogue."

Dalton added that a statement by the foreign ministry of Oman, the country mediating the talks, following the latest US-Iran meeting on Saturday pointed to a framework for a successful deal.

"It included 'fair'. That means win-win, something for both sides. 'Enduring': this is vitally important because of the absence of any trust in Tehran that the United States is capable of sticking to agreements that it signs."

"'Binding': again endorsed by the international community, may be something which puts constraints on both sides that go beyond the actual words of the agreement. Then, 'Iran free of nuclear weapons' ... but Iran having its right to 'peaceful nuclear energy' that was in the Omani statement too, together with Iran being free of sanctions."

"Now this is the big win potentially for Iran, because its economy has been in tatters for many years, and the most significant threat to the survival of the regime is instability caused by potential breakdown of the economy," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called the Islamic Republic "a threat to the fate and the existence, not just of our own future, but the fate and the future of all mankind."

"This will be the outcome if it achieves nuclear arms. The battle between us and the empire of terror in Iran will determine the fate of all free societies," he said in a speech at the start of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"We will prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons. We will fight the zealot regimes threatening the entire world. We shall fight forcefully against those regimes threatening the whole world," the Israeli prime minister said.

Netanyahu said if Israel "loses this war, the Western countries are next in turn. The wave of zealots will wash upon all of them, and it will happen much more quickly than they think."

Iran has agreed to allow a technical team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss restoring camera surveillance in Iranian nuclear facilities, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed the agency would send a technical team to Iran following his visit to Tehran this month.

Grossi said his impression is that the Islamic Republic's leaders are "seriously engaged in discussions... with a sense of trying to get to an agreement."

The UN body would be the party responsible for verifying Iran's compliance with a deal, Grossi said. "This will have to be verified by the IAEA.''

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said on Friday that a deputy to the head of the UN nuclear watchdog will visit Tehran in the coming two weeks to continue high-level technical talks.

Kamalvandi added that discussions aim to resolve recurring issues in IAEA reports that, according to Tehran, have contributed to mounting political pressure rather than advancing technical cooperation.

"If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one, and that is they import enriched material," US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in an interview with The Free Press podcast.

"There’s a pathway to a civil, peaceful nuclear program if they want one. But if they insist on enriching, then they will be the only country in the world that doesn’t have a 'weapons program,' quote-unquote, but is enriching. And so I think that’s problematic."

The UN nuclear watchdog said last month that Iran is only non-nuclear armed state enriching uranium to 60%. Several countries which do not possess nuclear weapons, including Japan, Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands, enrich uranium at lower levels.

"If America’s only demand is that Iran not possess nuclear weapons, that demand is attainable and we can meet it," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.

"But if (Washington) makes impractical and unreasonable demands, it’s natural that we will run into problems.

"If the other side also engages earnestly, I think there is room for progress," Araghchi added.

"Up until now we have reached a better mutual understanding than in the past on certain principles, concepts, and objectives of the negotiations, which can continue."