Israel accused Iran of destroying international control over its nuclear activities after suspending the additional protocol, and while Tehran showed its willingness to negotiate with Washington if it abandoned the sanctions, US President Joe Biden's candidate for the leadership of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) warned of the danger of Iranian missiles. .

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, said today, Wednesday, that Iran continues to destroy what remains of the International Atomic Energy Agency's control over its nuclear facilities, and continues to challenge and threaten regional stability, as he put it.

Ashkenazi added in a statement that "Iran's damage to the control mechanisms of its nuclear facilities, and the suspension of implementation of the additional protocol, are extreme steps that cross all red lines set by the international community."

The Israeli minister considered that what Iran is doing represents a threat, and it should not go unanswered.

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced again that Israel would not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons, and before that the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations warned the head of the international branch of the Likud party, Danny Danon, that Tel Aviv would consider a set of difficult decisions towards Iran, if the US President chooses to return to the nuclear deal.

Iran's nuclear and missiles

In the same context, and amid a raging debate between Washington and Tehran over who would initiate a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, William Burns, the US President's candidate for the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said that the United States would have to do everything to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon.

He added during a hearing today by the Senate Intelligence Committee that Iran's ballistic missiles or its destabilizing activity in the region cannot be ignored.

Earlier, the US State Department spokesman called on Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, and to return to the implementation of its obligations in the nuclear agreement.

The US news site Axios reported that the United States and Israel will revive a strategic working group on Iran.

The site quoted an Israeli source as saying that Israel's top priority in the first meeting, which will be held through a secure video-conference system, is to provide the latest intelligence information and data on Iran's nuclear program, and to assess whether the American and Israeli intelligence visions are compatible.

The source said that a common intelligence baseline must be established before moving to political discussions.

According to Axios, the US National Security Adviser, Jack Sullivan, suggested reviving the working group during a phone call held late last month with Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabat.

Founded during the early days of former President Barack Obama's administration, the group includes senior officials from various national security agencies, foreign policy and intelligence from both sides.

Lift sanctions to negotiate

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on the US administration to stop practicing what he described as economic terrorism against his country

Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting, today, that the positive words issued by the administration of US President Joe Biden did not amount to tangible positive steps, as he described it.

He stressed that his country is ready to sit with the new US administration if it gives up the sanctions imposed on Tehran, saying that the United States must stop practicing economic terrorism, in order for Tehran to return to hold constructive talks with the White House.

He stressed his country's rejection of any new conditions that Biden might impose to return to the nuclear agreement, describing his country's nuclear program as peaceful.

For his part, Iran's permanent representative to international organizations in Geneva, Ismail Baqai, denounced Washington's demand that Iran fully comply with the nuclear agreement, while America remains outside the agreement, since the previous US administration withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

In a speech before the Conference on Disarmament, sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva, Baqaei demanded that the United States take corrective measures before asking Iran to reverse the measures it had taken regarding its nuclear program.

During the same conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urged the Biden administration to intensify efforts to reactivate the nuclear deal with Iran.

Lavrov said that the two issues of establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear program require a constructive approach from all.

Protocol suspension does not imply exit

Meanwhile, former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hans Blix, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that Iran's suspension of the additional protocol to the nuclear agreement does not mean its exit from it.

Blix considered that both Tehran and Washington want to return to the agreement, without either of them wanting to be the first.

The agency had warned that the recent Iranian steps would have repercussions.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany also condemned Tehran's suspension of the additional protocol, and called on it to retreat from reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal.