US dodges Israeli call as JCPOA revival talks intensify

The White House is said to have rejected a request by Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid for an emergency phone call with President Joe Biden regarding the 2015 Iran deal in an apparent last-minute push by the regime to derail the talks on a revival of the multilateral agreement.

Channel 13 news, citing unnamed Israeli sources, reported on Thursday that the US president’s office claimed Biden had been unavailable for a conversation with the regime’s premier because he was on “a two-week vacation.”

Israeli minister for military affairs, Benny Gantz, will also reportedly not meet with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during his visit to Washington on Thursday, since Austin too had apparently left the city.

During his visit, Gantz is scheduled to meet the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) as well as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. He has already said that his visit is aimed at conveying Israel’s position on an potential deal on reviving the 2015 accod, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran is currently reviewing a response from the United States on its comments to the European Union’s draft proposal aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal and lifting draconian US sanctions.

Tehran said it would announce its position following careful assessment.

Four days of intense talks between representatives of Iran and the five remaining parties to the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), ended on August 8 with a modified text proposed by the EU on the table.

The talks came after a five-month hiatus as the US negotiators failed to overcome their indecisiveness.