The move that worries Israel: "If this is the agreement that will be signed - Iran will gain big"

Researcher of Iran and the Shiite axis at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Dani Citrinowicz spoke this morning (Wednesday) with Gideon Oko and Amichai Attali on 103FM radio about the emerging agreement with Iran, and claimed that "from an Israeli perspective, any agreement with Iran is a bad agreement."

"The Iranians can be very satisfied; according to reports, it seems that the agreement taking shape with Oman establishes their control over the strait. They will control all the ships that enter, and thus, in practice, they control who enters and who leaves. Also, the exit in practice will be done by Oman with notification to the Iranians; all this depends on the American willingness to accept the agreement, lift the naval blockade, and provide relief in oil sales to Iran. But if this is the agreement that takes shape, then it is a great victory for the Iranians."

He continued and explained his argument: "It distances a conflict between Iran and the USA, a conflict that Israel is very interested in, and it will return the parties to negotiations on the nuclear issue. I think this testifies primarily to the influence capacity of the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar, on the USA, in contrast, apparently, to the eroding influence of Israel on the American administration."

"This is a crazy event; it is connected to the visit of the Saudi Defense Minister to Washington, who conveyed messages of de-escalation. But it is not only Saudi Arabia, it is also Oman and Qatar; there was a conversation between the Qatari Emir and Donald Trump, and pressures are being applied, not only on Donald Trump but also on his entourage, and therefore this whole event pushed Donald Trump to reach a situation where he gives another chance to negotiations," he noted.

"Our interest is certainly not an agreement between Iran and the USA; any such agreement will certainly strengthen the Iranian regime. From an Israeli perspective, any agreement with Iran is a bad agreement, because any agreement will strengthen the regime that we want to topple - Israel wanted to turn Iran into a failed state. Therefore, certainly, this contradicts the Israeli interest, but in principle, an agreement like the nuclear deal could be good because it could prevent Iran from advancing to nuclear weapons. There is a good agreement with Iran, but not in the eyes of the current Israeli government and the policy towards Iran at the moment."

According to him, "in the perception of the current Israeli leaders, any agreement is a bad agreement. An attack on infrastructure sites in Iran, in my opinion, will not topple the regime; it will damage it severely, but it will lead to a response, oil prices will rise uncontrollably - Israel is willing to maintain this price, but Donald Trump certainly is not. For Israel, there is a broader goal of preventing Iran from becoming a strategic threat to Israel, but if there is an agreement, it will be difficult to bypass Donald Trump."