Lapid: Israel Not Against Every Agreement at Vienna Talks

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Monday that Israel is not against every agreement that might come out of ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1.

“A good agreement is a good thing. Israel will not oppose a good agreement,” he said.

Talks were set to continue in Vienna.

Lapid said that Israel and its international allies are conducting “intensive discussions” on what a good agreement on Iran’s nuclear program entails.

“In these discussions, we are at the table. There is global attention, and more than that, attention from the actors involved, to the Israeli position.”

Israel is consistently able to move Western positions in negotiations with the Iranians toward Israel’s stance, he said.

“We feel that we have succeeded somewhat — I don’t want to exaggerate — in causing the world to listen to us and treat it like a critical issue,” he said.

Lapid said Israel has successfully gotten the world to pay attention to the Iranian nuclear threat and negotiations.

“At the beginning, [the Americans acted] like ‘let’s get this over with and move to the really important thing, China,’” Lapid said. “That’s not what’s happening now. It’s a central issue.”

Lapid was confident that the other parties to the talks – the U.K., France and Germany, as well as Russia and China more than in the past – are taking Israel’s position seriously.

“We feel we succeeded to some extent – I don’t want to exaggerate – to get the world to listen to us,” he said.