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JERUSALEM, Israel The Biden administrations Syria policy has a laser-like focus on combating the largely defeated Islamic State terrorist movement, butsome observers say it appears to be short-sighted when it comes to zooming in on the growing threat from both Iran and Russia which could lead to more instability across the Islamic heartland.

"We have had three administrations that have not prioritized Syrian stability. If you do not attend to it, it attends to you, like the main problems in the Middle East. The instability in Syria spills over to broader changes," said Brian Katulis, a seniorfellow and vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute.

Katulis told Fox News Digital: "The instability in Syria broke the world in the last decade. Syria broke the rules of war because [President Bashar] Assad and Russiamurdered hundreds of thousands of civilians." The Syrian civil war caused waves of migration that disrupted politics in Europe and the U.S., he noted.

"What happens in Syria does not stay there," he said, but the U.S. mandate is limited to degrading the power of the Islamic State. "The presence we have in Syria is a Goldilocks presence, not too big, not too small, just right," said Katulis.

US LAUNCHES SECOND SET OF STRIKES IN SYRIA AGAINST IRANIAN-BACKED MILITIAS

USCENTCOM chief Gen. Erik Kurilla consults with officials running the al-Hol camp. (CENTCOM)

There are roughly 900 U.S. troops, including Green Berets, in Syria.

ForSinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council in the U.S., the presence of American troops can advance a troika of American security interests.

TheSyrian Democratic Council is the political wing of theSyrian Democratic Forces, an alliance ofKurdish,Arab andAssyrian/Syriac forces, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen defense units

"Terrorism is still threatening the whole world, and the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are still in northeastern and northwestern Syria," Mohamad told Fox News Digital.

She cited three reasons an enduringAmerican presence in Syria is needed.

"First, as long as these terrorist organizations are there, the threat to the U.S. and the whole world will continue. It is very important to end terrorism in Syria in partnership with Kurdish security forces", she said.

IRAN, SYRIA CONSIDER FORMING JOINT OIL AND GAS COMPANY, STATE MEDIA SAYS

Second, "if the U.S. withdraws, it will empower Iran like in Iraq." She said American deterrence "prevents regional interference from Turkey and Iran."

Third, "For 11 years there has been no political solution" to end the high-intensity combat. "We could wind up going back to before 2011, [when the civil war began], without any changes in the Syrianregime. This will empower the regime to control Syriawithout makinganychanges fordemocracy," Mohamad said.

"We need to democratize Syria," she said. "The U.S. will help and support us with democracy. The U.S. will be empowering our position when negotiating withthe Syrian regime, empowering a democratic system based on equal gender and freedom of religion. This will give us a chance to build a unique model intheMiddle East."

U.S. CENTCOM chief Gen. Erik Kurilla recently stated that Syria is becoming the "breeding ground" for a new generation of Islamic State terrorists.

U.S. CENTCOM chief Gen. Erik Kurilla surveys the al-Hol camp in Syria. (CENTCOM)

CENTCOM CHIEF BELIEVES SYRIA IS 'BREEDING GROUND' FOR NEXT GENERATION OF ISIS

Brig. Gen. (res.) Erez D. Maisel,who served 32 years in the Israel Defense Forces and is an expert on Syria, told Fox News Digital that the country is "important because of where she is, specifically, for Europe, Israel, Russia and Iran. Who rules Syria says a lot about the Middle East."

Maisel noted that the Kurdish areas in northern Syria "are of interest to Israel because we see a lot of common interests. We have good connections to the Kurds. They are a minority, and we are a minority."

Kurdish forces have conducted sweeps over the last few weeks to root out Islamic State terrorists from the sprawling al-Hol refugee camp in northern Syria that lodges 55,000 residents. The American military is a keen supporter of the anti-ISIS crackdown in the camp.

"Most importantly, Syria being at the intersection between Iran and the Med, the land bridge, is critical for any improved future for the people of the Levant," Maisel said.

ISRAELI PM TO FOX: 'WE WELCOME THE US STRIKES AGAINST THE IRANIAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS IN SYRIA'

Troops from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Special Operations and the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition, take part in heavy-weaponry military exercises in the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria on March 25, 2022. (DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

"Prolonged disruption of Iranian control of this crucial line of communication is strategically important not only to Israel, but to regional stability impacting European-NATO interests. A mission that requires measured U.S. support just enough presence to deny Iranian freedom of movement (and ISIS resurrection)."

He added, "The two important choke points into Syria are: Kurdish north (Euphrates zone of operations), basically Syrian Defense Forces controlled areas, and the tri-border area between Kingdom of Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Specifically, the U.S. CENTCOM Al Tanf Garrison.

"An important stopgap interdicting Iranian intentions to develop a supply line from Teheran, through Iraq into Syria and Lebanon."

Meanwhile, on Monday, speaking at The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz presented a map showing more than 10 facilities in Masyaf, in northwestern Syria, that Iran uses to manufacture advanced missiles and other weapons for its proxies. The facilities pose a significant threat to Israel and the region, he said.

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Critics of the Iran atomic accord are deeply concerned that Irans regime will use the sanctions relief funds to pump cash into the coffers of Assads regime and boost terrorism in Syria against U.S. troops.

On Wednesday, the United States Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the U.S. had provided an additional $756 million dollars in humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria. The amount is in addition to the $800 million in humanitarian aid announced in May by the administration.

A spokesperson for the State Department declined comment for this report and referred Fox News Digital to the Pentagon.

Benjamin Weinthalreports on Middle East affairs. You can follow Benjamin Weinthal on Twitter @BenWeinthal.

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More robust US presence in Syria could deter Iran, Russia and other threats and ensure stability, experts say - Fox News

Around 50,000 troops are being deployed to the Armenian border by Iran.

It has been reported this evening, Friday, September 16, that around 50,000 troops have been deployed to the Armenian border by Iran. This comes as a direct result of the recent attacks by Azerbaijan on the small state of Armenia. There are also as yet unconfirmed reports on social media sites of Turkey dispatching 45,000 reservists to the same border areas.

Iran shares a border with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Nasser Kanaani, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman already stressed in an official government statement last Tuesday, September 13, that the Islamist Republic will not accept any changes in the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.

FM Spox: #Iran not to accept any change in #Armenia#Azerbaijan borders https://t.co/3Xz3kxopbF pic.twitter.com/ssdHsiLveD

Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (@Iran_GOV) September 13, 2022

Iran is sending 50,000 soldiers to the Armenian border. / Reports

UKR REPORT (@UKR_Report) September 16, 2022

Unconfirmed reports claim that two regiments of Irans army have already gone to the aid of Armenia and are fighting with Azerbaijani forces. It is also claimed that a large number of Azerbaijani soldiers have subsequently been killed.

Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC ground forces, today, Friday, September 16, reportedly visited the units located on the border of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nakhichevan. He stated that their readiness level is very high, according to Iranian media reports.

Iranian media reports that the commander of the IRGC ground forces, Mohammad Pakpour, visited the units located on the border of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan and stated that their readiness level is very high. pic.twitter.com/D1v2ARumf6

301 (@301arm) September 16, 2022

Alen Simonyan, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia tweeted his thanks for the support of the Iranian Government yesterday, Thursday, September 15.

. .#President_Raisi@mb_ghalibaf @HAabdollahian @iraninyerevan @armenia_of pic.twitter.com/VWLKbIb53Y

Alen Simonyan (@alensimonyan) September 15, 2022

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Iran deploying around 50,000 troops to the Armenian border - Euro Weekly News

The U.S. response is expected to focus on final sticking points related to Iranian demands for economic guarantees and sanctions relief. U.S. officials were tight-lipped about the substance of the response. When asked for details, the official familiar with the matter said the response contained a bunch of words and sentences and paragraphs.

A person familiar with the U.S. response said it focused on the issue of economic guarantees. The person declined to give details, but said the response falls short of Irans expectations. So now we have to see if they realize this is as good as it gets or decide to push for more.

In recent days, European officials have expressed increasing optimism they could revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which lifted many U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict but temporary curbs on its nuclear program. Western officials say that a number of technical questions related to economic guarantees and sanctions remain open but that other main sticking points have been resolved, making an agreement more likely. But they still cautioned that it would require tough political decisions both in Washington and Tehran in order to close a deal.

On Wednesday, Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign policy chief, told the Spanish news agency EFE that time was of the essence: We have only days left, a few days [to conclude the deal], because after the summer we will enter into a new political dynamic, he said, speaking on the margins of the Quo Vadis Europa conference in Santander, Spain.

Meanwhile, Israel Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday urged the Biden administration to abandon the talks with Iran, saying that the emerging deal failed to meet the standards set by President Biden himself: preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state.

Lapid also warned that the frozen funds Iran would receive as part of a restored deal worth an estimated $100 billion would enable the regime in Tehran to fund even more malign activities in the region.

This money will fund the Revolutionary Guard, Lapid said. It will fund more attacks on American bases in the Middle East. It will be used to strengthen Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Diplomats from Britain, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, China and the United States have spent almost 17 months negotiating a revival of the 2015 nuclear accord in Vienna. The talks have been close to collapse several times.

But since the last physical meeting of the parties at the beginning of August in Vienna, some of the most complicated stumbling blocks appear to have been resolved. They were related to whether the U.S. would remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guards from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, as well as to the fate of an investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency into traces of nuclear material found at three sites in Iran.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, confirmed on Wednesday that Iran dropped some key demands, allowing the two sides to make some progress.

We are closer now than we were even just a couple of weeks ago because Iran made the decision to make some concessions, Kirby said. But he cautioned that a lot of gaps remain. Were not there yet.

Iran is still seeking further guarantees that a future U.S. administration would not leave the deal again. The Biden administration has stressed on numerous occasions that it will uphold its obligations but cannot provide a legal guarantee for its successors.

The prospect of former U.S. President Donald Trump or a like-minded Republican returning to power has overshadowed the talks since they began in Vienna in April 2021. Trump, who called the original deal horrible and one-sided, left the agreement in 2018.

Iran wants assurances built into the new text to cushion the potentially negative effects on the Iranian economy should the deal collapse again.

One such guarantee that is built into the draft text, according to Western officials, would allow foreign companies to continue their operations in Iran for two-and-a-half years without fear of being sanctioned, even if this renewed agreement falls apart.

Tehran would also receive what it calls an inherent guarantee that enables it to ramp up its uranium enrichment capacity fairly quickly in order to discourage Washington from scuttling the agreement once more. This will be achieved in part by allowing Iran to store some centrifuges and electronic equipment inside the country under the seal of the International Atomic Energy Agency instead of destroying them, a Western official with knowledge of the matter said.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran is only allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent purity, maintain a stockpile of 300 kilograms of uranium, and permitted to use only very basic IR-1 centrifuges machines that spin uranium gas at high speed for enrichment purposes.

It has exceeded those limits dramatically in response to the U.S. exit from the deal.

Iran currently has a stockpile of some 3,800 kilograms of enriched uranium some of which has been enriched up to 60 percent, which is close to weapons grade. Iran has also installed thousands of advanced centrifuges in breach of the 2015 deal, including IR-6 machines that spin much faster.

Should the 2015 deal be restored, Iran will be forced back into compliance with the previous limits but it will be allowed to mothball the advanced centrifuges, including the electronic infrastructure needed to operate them.

Even if the U.S. lifts nuclear-related sanctions under a new deal, numerous other American sanctions on Iran would remain, targeting the country over its support for terrorist groups and human rights abuses.

Those additional sanctions are the result of Trumps maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which entailed not only reimposing nuclear-related sanctions, but also adding new penalties. That has made the Biden teams job harder as it has tried to figure out which sanctions to lift and which to leave in place.

Now, Iran wants to make sure those remaining U.S. sanctions will not deter European and other non-American companies from doing business on its soil.

One Trump move that infuriated Tehran was the designation of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful military branch, as a terrorist group. U.S. President Joe Biden has said he would not remove the IRGC from that terrorist list. On Wednesday, the U.S. struck an IRGC compound of bunkers in Syria, as retaliation for a strike by an IRGC-affiliated militia on a U.S. base.

Complicating matters is the IRGCs vast economic footprint throughout Iran, with major economic projects in key industries.

The current draft deal, according to Western officials, will allow European and other non-American companies to do business with entities that have transactions with companies owned by Irans IRGC.

While some critics of the deal see that language as a weak point, allowing Tehran to use proxies to conduct business, other analysts say its not a significant change to how the United States currently approaches such situations.

Brian OToole, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council and sanctions expert, said that the language in the draft deal signifies no change from current rules. He says it is just a restatement of existing rules in a more prominent place. Similar statements have appeared in various official JCPOA documents from 2015 and 2016, according to OToole.

Earlier in the discussions, Iran also insisted it wanted the International Atomic Energy Agency to close a probe into the origins of multiple traces of nuclear material found at three previously undeclared sites in Iran as a precondition for its return to the nuclear deal.

Western officials suspect that conclusive proof into the origins of the nuclear material could establish that Iran had a clandestine nuclear weapons program that ran until at least 2003. Iran, however, insists its nuclear program has always been solely for peaceful purposes.

EU officials have offered a proposal that would close the IAEA investigation if Iran can offer the agency credible answers about the uranium traces origins before the so-called reimplementation day the day the revived nuclear deal would go into effect. But the proposal would also enable Iran to block reimplementation day, should the probe remain open.

Iran seems to have agreed to this EU proposal since it did not raise the issue again in its reply last week to the final EU text, according to three senior Western diplomats.

But it also means that even if an agreement on restoring the nuclear deal is reached in the coming days, there may still be pitfalls ahead for its full implementation.

Lara Seligman contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.

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U.S. reacts to Iranian comments on draft nuclear deal - POLITICO

About six weeks ago, U.S. President Joe Biden boasted in the Washington Post that the Middle East was more stable and secure than when he inherited the region from his predecessor, Donald Trump. Among other examples, Biden named Iraq, where rocket attacks against U.S. troops and diplomats had diminished. While hes correct that fewer Americans have been targeted, this single metric alone is hardly enough to support his claim of stability. By nearly every other measure, Iraq is less stable today than in January 2021and U.S. interests there more threatened.

Its a remarkable turn of events. Just 10 months ago, Iraq improbably appeared poised to form a government committed to diminishing the destructive role played by Iran-backed militias and enforcing Iraqi sovereignty against its bigger neighbor.Now, Irans political allies in Iraq have the upper hand, the countrys fragile democracy is threatened as never before, and, for the first time in a decade, violence even among Shiite groups is a possibility.

It didnt have to be this way. The big winner in last Octobers parliamentary elections was Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shiite cleric who during the campaign called for an Iraq dominated by neither Washington nor Tehran.Sadrs alliance secured a plurality of the 329 seats in the Council of Representatives, defeating Iranian-backed Shiite Islamist parties that represent the political arms of the militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

About six weeks ago, U.S. President Joe Biden boasted in the Washington Post that the Middle East was more stable and secure than when he inherited the region from his predecessor, Donald Trump. Among other examples, Biden named Iraq, where rocket attacks against U.S. troops and diplomats had diminished. While hes correct that fewer Americans have been targeted, this single metric alone is hardly enough to support his claim of stability. By nearly every other measure, Iraq is less stable today than in January 2021and U.S. interests there more threatened.

Its a remarkable turn of events. Just 10 months ago, Iraq improbably appeared poised to form a government committed to diminishing the destructive role played by Iran-backed militias and enforcing Iraqi sovereignty against its bigger neighbor.Now, Irans political allies in Iraq have the upper hand, the countrys fragile democracy is threatened as never before, and, for the first time in a decade, violence even among Shiite groups is a possibility.

It didnt have to be this way. The big winner in last Octobers parliamentary elections was Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shiite cleric who during the campaign called for an Iraq dominated by neither Washington nor Tehran.Sadrs alliance secured a plurality of the 329 seats in the Council of Representatives, defeating Iranian-backed Shiite Islamist parties that represent the political arms of the militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Sadr is no panacea. Following the 2003 U.S. invasion, Sadrs Mahdi Army became a leading adversary of the U.S. presence in Iraq, and the cleric was nearly killed by U.S. forces. More recently, though, Sadr has positioned himself as a nationalist, an anti-corruption crusader, and a critic of PMF military activity in Iraq targeting U.S. diplomatic and military personnel.

To be sure, we do not know whether the mercurial cleric, once in power, would eventually have opted for an Iranian-style theocracy, with himself as the self-styled supreme leader.In the wake of the election, at least, Sadr was poised to establish a majoritarian government coalition of Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds that excluded Iranian-backed parties. He and his parliamentary allies might have been able to exert Iraqi sovereignty and fight corruptiona major goal of a massive countrywide protest movement in 2019.

That government never materialized. Government formation was delayed by Irans allies: PMF groups Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Kataib Hezbollah reportedly threatened to overrun the government, attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, rained down rockets and drones on the Kurds, and bombed the home of the speaker of parliament, Mohamed al-Halbousi. Admittedly, Sadr and his Kurdish partners didnt exactly seize their moment, but at least they were making slow progress.

Then the Iran-backed Coordination Framework coalitionSadrs Shiite rivalsplayed their ace card. To prevent Sadr, the Kurds, and Sunnis, who had secured a majority of the seats in parliament, from selecting a prime minister and cabinet, the Iran-backed opposition used their control of the corrupt judiciary to move the goalposts. The Federal Supreme Court ruled that nowfor the first timenot just a simple majority but a two-thirds supermajority would be needed to form a government. Unable to reach that threshold, Sadrs 73 members of parliament resigned en masse in June, and their seats were reallocated to Iran-aligned parties.

Who masterminded this judicial coup? None other than Nouri al-Maliki, who served as premier from 2006 to 2014 and is best known for his prodigious corruption and vicious sectarianism, which in no small part contributed to the rise of the Islamic State. In January 2021, he reportedly narrowly escaped being sanctioned by the Trump administration. As kingmaker, Maliki would once again be pulling the strings.

Sadr and Maliki have been rivals for the mantle of Shiite leadership in Iraq since at least 2008, when government forces led by Maliki attacked and defeated Sadrs Mahdi Army in the Battle of Basra. Given this history of bad blood, Sadr responded to the Coordination Frameworks July 25 nomination of a Maliki allyMohammed Shia al-Sudanifor prime minister by directing his supporters to occupy the parliament and prevent a vote for prime minister, which they duly did. It was as if Sadr had taken a page from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists in Washington.

Today, Sadrists no longer inhabit the legislature but continue to camp out in the International Zone just across from the parliament, blocking Sudanis election. Meanwhile, Sadr is calling for the dissolution of parliament and for early elections to be held under a revised election lawdemands opposed by the Iran-backed Coordination Framework. As the impasse drags on, tensions among Iraqs Shiites are spiking. Regardless of how the standoff is resolved, Iran will likely emerge with a strengthened position in Baghdad, thwarting the will of an Iraqi electorate that overwhelmingly voted for change last October.

To be sure, its not clear that Washington could have prevented this outcome. In any event, it doesnt appear that the administration made any concerted effort to forestall this scenario. In nearly nine months between the elections and the Sadr deputies walkout, public records show, senior U.S. State Department and National Security Council officials visited Iraq only twice, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made just a small handful of calls to Iraqi decision-makers in an attempt to affect developments on the ground. The excellent new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, may have pressed the cause after her arrival in Baghdad this June as well. But by all appearances, she did so without sufficient backing from Washington.

The absence of high-level administration engagement in Iraqs post-election attempts to form a government was not an oversight but a purposeful decision. As one anonymous senior Biden administration official said rather indifferently last December, their plan was to leave it to the Iraqis to sort out.

Washington doesnt typically weigh in on election outcomes in foreign countries, preferring instead to focus on supporting institutions. Regrettably, Iraqi is not a typical case, given that its fledgling democracy has been struggling to survive under the pressure of Irans long arm in Iraq, the approximately 100,000-strong PMF militia. Elections in Iraq could ultimately have contributed toward weakening Irans stranglehold, but U.S. disengagement during the government formation process left a void eagerly filled by Tehran.

Meanwhile, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Esmail Qaani and other senior Iranian officials visited Iraq no fewer than 10 times in recent months to threaten, cajole, and convince their local partners and adversaries how to sort out the next government. While the number of visits alone doesnt measure U.S. interest, the disparity does suggest that Washingtons approach was laissez-faire. The administration did not employ Washingtons diplomatic and economic leverage to protect a process under attack from Tehran.

All this matters because Iraq is important to the United States and its interests in the region. Not only did thousands of Americans lose life and limb to help build a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, but, unlike Afghanistan, Iraq really is a counterterrorism partner with a real chance at becoming a full-fledged democracy. The country stands on vital geostrategic territory, holds the worlds fifth-largest oil reserves, and is on the front line against Irans effort to expand its influence throughout the Middle East.

As Washington appears to inch closer to a nuclear deal with Tehran, countering the latters meddling in Baghdad has taken on added urgencyboth for the United States and for its regional partners. After Iraqis bravely voted for parties opposed to Iranian domination, the Biden administrations subsequent hands-off approach to the government formation process has allowed the mullahs to steal victory from the jaws of defeat. Inexplicably, it appears that Iraqwhere the United States has fought two major wars in recent decadesis no longer a priority for Washington. Unfortunately, it is for Tehran.

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Biden's Indifference Has Given Iran the Upper Hand in Iraq - Foreign Policy

The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

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DUBAI, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Iran will not allow inspections beyond what is in a 2015 nuclear deal, the country's nuclear chief said on Wednesday, as the United States prepares to respond to a proposal to revive Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

"We are committed to inspections in the framework of the nuclear deal that are linked to nuclear restrictions which we have accepted in the past... Not one word more, not one word less," said Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, according to a video carried by state media.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters on Monday that Iran has dropped some of its main demands on resurrecting the deal to rein in Tehran's nuclear programme, including its insistence that international inspectors close some probes of its atomic program, bringing the possibility of an agreement closer. read more

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But Eslami appeared to contradict that, saying the probes should be closed "before the implementation day" if the 2015 nuclear deal is revived, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Washington aims to respond soon to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would bring back the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that former President Donald Trump abandoned and current President Joe Biden has sought to revive.

Iran has insisted the nuclear pact can only be salvaged if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) drops its claims about Tehran's nuclear work. Washington and other Western powers view Tehran's demand as outside the scope of reviving the deal.

In June, the U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors overwhelmingly passed a resolution, drafted by the United States, France, Britain and Germany, which criticised Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites.

On Wednesday, Eslami repeated Iran's assertion that claims of unexplained uranium traces were perpetrated by exiled Iranian dissidents and Iran's arch-enemy Israel, IRNA reported.

In response to the resolution, Iran expanded further its underground uranium enrichment by installing cascades of more efficient advanced centrifuges and also by removing essentially all the IAEA's monitoring equipment installed under the 2015 deal.

Meanwhile, Nour News, a website affiliated with Tehran's top national security body, rejected Washington's assertion that Iran had dropped some of its main demands.

"The Americans are seeking to suggest that Iran has retreated in the talks but... it was Washington that had left the nuclear deal and it is the U.S. government that has retreated to its previous positions if it returns to the accord," Nour News said on Twitter.

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Reporting by Dubai newsroomEditing by Tomasz Janowski

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Iran says it will only accept inspections agreed in 2015 nuclear deal - Reuters