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Same page as Israel? State Dept hints military action against Iran an option

Ned Price’s comment was a clear insinuation that Washington and Jerusalem are discussing non-diplomatic action, such as military strikes, in order to stymie Iran’s nuclear assets.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

After years of stalled negotiations that have frustrated European and Gulf Arab leaders and seen Iran continue to enrich uranium at high levels of purity, the Biden administration is finally signaling that a return to the JCPOA 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is no longer an urgent priority.

“The Iranians killed the prospect for a swift return to compliance with the JCPOA. A return to compliance with the JCPOA isn’t on the agenda,” said State Department Spokesman Ned Price during a press briefing in Washington on Monday.

“It’s not on the agenda for primarily one reason; that’s because the Iranians turned their back on it, the Iranians reneged on commitments they had made.”

He noted that while the U.S. believes that “diplomacy presents the most attractive option” for curbing Iran’s nuclear program, “we also agree with our Israeli partners that we shouldn’t take anything off the table.”

When American officials meet with “our Israeli partners, one of the many issues we discuss is the most – the various means by which we can see to it that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” Price added.

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His comment was a clear insinuation that Washington and Jerusalem are discussing non-diplomatic action, such as military strikes, in order to stymie Iran’s nuclear assets.

Price’s comments come just days before National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is expected to visit Israel.

In a separate press briefing on Monday, Sullivan said that while he is planning to discuss Iran’s nuclear development program with his Israeli counterparts, the focus of the conversations will be on mitigating the threat rather than a return to the deal.

“We’ll have the opportunity to engage deeply with the new Israeli government on the threat posed by Iran. And I think we share the same fundamental objectives. And we will work through any differences we have on tactics, the same way that we have over the course of the past two years,” Sullivan said.

“We’ve made clear that our priority right now is not the JCPOA. This is not the moment or the context to place priority on that.”