Israel Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Aviv Kochavi, in a rare public statement about U.S. foreign policy, urged the Biden administration not to attempt to kick-start the Iran nuclear deal.
Kochavi, speaking virtually at the Institute for National Security Studies think tank’s annual conference on Tuesday, said that even if a potential deal could improve on the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it would not be the right move for regional security.
“With the changing of the administration in the United States, the Iranians have said they want to return to the previous agreement,” the military commander said, according to the Times of Israel. “I want to state my position, the position that I give to all my colleagues when I meet them around the world: Returning to the 2015 nuclear agreement or even to an agreement that is similar but with a few improvements is a bad thing, and it is not the right thing to do.”
The United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and embarked on a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at squeezing Iran into submission. Since the U.S. departure, Iran has continued to breach all aspects of the treaty. Earlier this month, its regime announced that it was rolling out 1,000 additional centrifuges and would begin enriching uranium to levels far in excess of the JCPOA.