Israeli pressure killed close nuclear deal: Academic

Pressure by the Israeli regime prevented a close deal from materializing between Iran and the six world powers in the course of nuclear negotiations earlier in November, a university professor tells Press TV.

“I think it is no secret that in Geneva last time Iran and P5+1 (six world powers) almost reached an agreement. The agreement was very close and it was due to Israeli pressures that the agreement did not materialize,” Foad Izadi said on Thursday.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, France, Britain, Russia and China — plus Germany, which are currently holding nuclear talks in Geneva, held a previous round of negotiations in the Swiss city in early November.

During the previous talks, the two sides came very close to a deal, which failed to materialize, however, due to the position adopted by France in support of the Israeli regime.

Iran and the six world powers have been working to hammer out a deal to pave the ground for the resolution of the West’s decade-old standoff over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

Izadi said the Zionist regime has taken advantage of Iran’s nuclear dossier to represent the Islamic Republic as “a threat” and cause “difficulties for Iran, and they want to continue with that.”

“That is how they exist. They exist by causing difficulties, starting wars, causing tensions and I think that is what the Israelis have been doing,” he added.

Izadi stated that Israel does not favor peace in the Middle East, adding, “It is interested in basically its own security, which it defines by restricting other countries to have peaceful nuclear programs. That causes problems for a lot of people.”

Israel is widely believed to be the only possessor of nuclear arms in the Middle East, with estimated 200-400 nuclear warheads. In its Year Book 2012, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Israel possesses at least 80 “highly operational” nuclear warheads.