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Israel raises alarm after U.S. backs nuclear talks with Iran

19 February 2021
Dan Ackermann

The Israeli government has raised concerns about Secretary of State Tony Blinken's announcement on Thursday that the U.S. is willing to open discussions with Iran about returning to the 2015 nuclear deal.

What they're saying: “Israel believes that going back to the old nuclear agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal. We remain committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Why it matters: The Iranian issue is the main point of friction between Israel and the Biden administration, just as it was between Netanyahu and the Obama administration.

  • Israeli officials say the U.S. notified Israel in advance about the announcement. “We are in close contact with the United States on this matter," an Israeli official said.

Driving the news: Following a video conference on Thursday with his counterparts from France, Germany and the U.K., Blinken said the U.S. was prepared to discuss a path back to full, mutual compliance with the deal, which the Trump administration pulled out of and Iran is violating.

  • Enrique Mora, a senior EU foreign policy official, then proposed an informal meeting of diplomats from Iran and the six world powers that signed the nuclear deal.
  • Minutes later, the State Department issued a statement saying the U.S. was prepared to attend such a meeting. "The goal of coming together would be to sit down and to see what could be a prolonged path of trying to get back to a situation where both the U.S. and Iran were back into compliance," a State Department official said.
  • The U.S. took several other Iran-related steps on Thursday: America's acting representative to the UN submitted a letter to members of the UN Security Council reversing the Trump administration's efforts to snap UN sanctions on Iran backed into place.
  • The U.S. mission to the UN also notified the Iranian mission that all travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on Iranian diplomats in the U.S. would be lifted.

What’s next: On Feb. 23, Iran is expected to withdraw from the “additional protocol” of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

  • That would see Iran curtail its cooperation with UN inspectors, suspending their ability to conduct unannounced visits to nuclear sites. Experts see that as the most damaging step
  • The U.S. is waiting to see whether the meeting proposal could help delay the Iranian steps.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.