Senior Israel delegation to US: Israel will not be returning to Iran nuclear deal

A general view shows the Iranian nuclear power plant of Natanz, 270 kms south of Tehran, 30 March 2005 [BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP FILES/AFP via Getty Images]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to dispatch a delegation next week to Washington to inform the US administration that Israel will not be returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, Axios news website reported on Thursday.

Netanyahu’s stance was criticised at the time by many in the Israeli defence establishment as being counterproductive.

The senior delegation will include, according to Axios, Israel’s national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, Israeli army Chief of Staff General Aviv Kochavi, military intelligence chief Tamir Hayman and Mossad director Yossi Cohen.

During the meeting of the Israeli cabinet on Thursday, Netanyahu stressed that Israel is not a party to the nuclear deal and is therefore not bound by it in any way.

Netanyahu asserted that Israel would act only according to its national security interests and maintain its freedom of operation against Iran in the region, the US news website reported.

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