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Israel will work to bring down the forthcoming Iran nuclear deal, the countrys Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday. His warning comes as indirect US-Iranian negotiations to revive the 2015 deal which aims to stop Tehran building nukes remain ongoing as both sides weigh up a final text presented to them by EU mediators. The revival talks follow the US withdrawal from the landmark accord abandoned by Washington in 2018 under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

As Washington and Tehran mull their next steps, leading Iran expert, Andrea Stricker, from the Foundation for Defence of Democracies (FDD) think tank, has warned of the consequences if the two sides fail to agree on how to revive the deal.

The expert warned that a breakdown of the talks may lead to Iran developing a nuclear deterrent it could use to threaten Israel and arm its militias in the Middle East.

Speaking to Express.co.uk about a nuclear-armed Iran, she said: I think it would give them cover to expand their malign activities in the region.

They would be able to do more to threaten Israel. They would do more to arm their proxies and militias and interfere in the affairs of other countries in the region for sure.

We see what is happening with Russia when they invaded Ukraine.

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They have the nuclear deterrent to prevent NATO from interfering in the country or doing more as far as putting boots on the ground or directly engaging with the Russians.

So, I think we can see very clearly that it gives countries the ability to carry out nefarious aims free of more interference.

Iran has consistently warned of its abilities to develop nuclear weapons in recent years, and during the latest weeks of negotiations.

However, Tehran has consistently denied that it would take such a step, insisting that its nuclear programme is purely for the nations energy needs.

Despite claiming innocent motives, Tehran has enriched uranium to 60 percent, a relatively short step away from the 90 percent purity needed for weapons-grade uranium.

Against the backdrop of the recent negotiations, Israeli officials have vowed in private that Israel will bar Iran from developing nuclear weapon capabilities.

They have said that all options including military action are on the table to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons if diplomacy fails.

The officials warlike rhetoric has drawn a strong response from Tehran, which has vowed a crushing response to any Israeli attack.

Asked if the efforts to stop Iran building nukes are effectively to prevent a new potential conflict, Ms Stricker said: That is one way to look at it.

She continued: I think the closer that Iran gets to nuclear weapons, the greater the chances are for conflict.

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Particularly Israel, because they may feel compelled to act preemptively.

Josep Borrell, who has been coordinating the US-Iranian talks, said he hoped for a US response this week.

The EUs foreign policy chief said on Monday that Iran had already given a reasonable response to the negotiations.

In recent days US President Joe Biden has discussed the negotiations with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose nations were all signatories to the original 2015 accord.

Ms Stricker said she thought that Tehran could still accept a deal if the UNs nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) halts its investigation into Iran.

She said: I think there still is a possibility that Iran will accept the deal that is on the table.

If the world powers agree to close the IAEAs investigation as they did in 2015.

So, there is that possibility that the Supreme Leader will simply say that until the leadership in the US changes back to Republican, they may as well take financial windfall and enjoy a few years of sanctions relief.

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World War 3 fears explode over Israel as Iran to arm militias in chilling nuclear plot - Express

TEHRANA total of 23 tourism-related projects are scheduled to be inaugurated in the northern province of Golestan on the occasion of Government Week (August 24-30), the provincial tourism chief has said.

A budget of 506 billion rials ($1.7 million) has been channeled into the projects, Rahman Farmani explained on Monday.

The projects include an eco-lodge unit, apartment hotel, travel agency, and tourism farm in different cities across the province, the official added.

Some 130 job opportunities are estimated to be generated upon the inauguration of the projects, he noted.

Back in May, the official announced that the Iranian government has allocated some 1.1 trillion rials ($3.7 million) to the tourism and handicrafts sectors of the province.

This budget is set aside for 55 projects in the areas of tourism, cultural heritage, and handicrafts, he mentioned.

Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus a one-millennium-old brick tower amongst its most famous.

Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

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Tourism projects to come on stream in northern Iran - Tehran Times

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Theworlds leading state-sponsor of terrorism the Islamic Republic of Iran is behind Palestinian Islamic Jihad's firing of over 600 rockets at communities in Israel over the weekend, according to top military experts.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, a formerdeputy commander of theIsrael Defense ForcesGaza Division,told Fox News Digital that there is "more than a slight possibility that Iran ordered [PIJ attacks] or it was supported by Iran."

Israel launched a preemptive missionOperation Breaking Dawnon Friday to stop "PIJ from firing anti-tank missiles from northern Gaza into Israel," said Avivi.

Avivi stressed the importance of connecting the dots between Irans regime and its proxies in the region. "It was no accident that thePIJ [attacks] happened as the secretary-general of PIJ, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, was meeting with [the Islamic Republics President Ebrahim] Raisi in Iran."

IRANIAN OFFICIALS OPENLY DISCUSS COUNTRY'S ABILITY TO MAKE NUCLEAR WEAPON

Raisi, who was sanctioned by the Trump administration for his role in the massacre of Iranian dissidents and protestors, said regarding the current violence that Israel has "once again showed its occupying and aggressive nature to the world."

Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was quoted by the Sepah News website as saying on Saturday: "Today, all the anti-Zionist jihadi capabilities are on the scene in a united formation working to liberate Jerusalem and uphold the rights of the Palestinian people."

The Trump administration designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC and its militias in the Middle East are responsible for the murder of over 600 American service personnel.

President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Avivi said that he sees a connection among Irans aggressive posture at the nuclear talks in Vienna; the hostile statements of the pro-Iran regime leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, against a Lebanon-Israel maritime deal; and the PIJ jingoism.

"This is an indication of Irans regional tentacles and how dangerous they are and how they can destabilize the area. Israel needs to remain strong and resolute to deter Irans advance," Avivi said.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have classified Irans regime as the worlds worst state-sponsor of terrorism.

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"As the nuclear negotiations were going on in Vienna, PIJs leader was meeting with the Iranian president, the head of the IRGC and others in Tehran, taking orders for terrorist attacks against Israel," Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, who commanded the British troops in Afghanistan, told Fox News Digital. "PIJ is an Iranian proxy and is funded by Iran to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead of discussing sanctions relief and normalization with Iran, the West should be doing everything it can to cut off the cash flow to all its terrorist proxies."

If, as the Biden White House desires, a renewed nuclear deal is reached, the administration is slated, according to media reports, to deliver over $100 billion to the Islamic Republic as part of sanctions relief in exchange for temporary restrictions on Irans nuclear program.

This image taken from video footage aired by Iranian state television on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, shows the launch of a rocket by Iran's Revolutionary Guard carrying a Noor-2 satellite in northeastern Shahroud Desert, Iran. (Iranian state television via AP)

The theocratic state declared last week that it can develop atomic weapons.

Kemp continued, "The scandal of the negotiations with Iran is summed up by the fact that the representative of Russia, which is assaulting Ukraine while threatening the world with nuclear attack, and the representative of Iran, whose proxy is viciously attacking Israel, have been meeting with British, EU and other world powers, with American endorsement, as though none of this is happening. Such immoral behavior might be excusable if these negotiations could lead to prevention of Irans nuclear capability. But even in the best case they can only achieve the opposite: paving the way to Iran becoming a legitimate nuclear armed state while also enabling Iranian terrorist aggression across the region."

"The decision making of the PIJ changed and deviated from the rules of engagement," Avivi, who serves as the CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, said. "The IDF did not really do anything different. The IDF has [long] been conducting arrests [of terrorists] in Judea of Samaria."

IRANIAN OFFICIALS OPENLY DISCUSS COUNTRY'S ABILITY TO MAKE NUCLEAR WEAPON

Based on IDF intelligence, the Islamic Jihad deviated from the standard rules of engagement because it was set to fire anti-tank missiles into Israel. "This was the first time that PIJ planned to take action [in reaction] to something that happened in Judea and Samaria," a reference to Israels arrest of the head of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank last Monday.

The former British commander, Kemp,said Israels attack to knock out the PIJ leadership is justified.

"Israel had no choice other than to launch a preemptive strike against PIJ to prevent an imminent lethal attack on Israeli civilians. Their initial military operation and subsequent strikes to stop terrorist rocket fire were lawful, necessary and proportionate. Israel operates within international law at all times, while every rocket launch by PIJ is a double war crime, attacking from behind human shields and firing indiscriminately at civilians," Kemp said.

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with Iranian officials, participants of the 31st International Islamic Unity Conference and ambassadors from Islamic countries, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

The IDF on Saturday tweeted video footage of PIJ misfiring missiles into a Palestinian civilian area in the Gaza Strip. "Watch this failed rocket launch which killed children in Gaza," the IDF wrote. "This barrage of rockets was fired by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Gaza last night. The rocket in the red circle misfired, killing Palestinian civiliansincluding childrenin Jabaliya in northern Gaza."

The Gaza Strip is controlled by Hamas, which the U.S. and the European Union have designated a terrorist organization. Similarly, the U.S. and EU classify PIJ as a terrorist entity. Irans chief strategic partner in Lebanon, Hezbollah, is also a US-designated terrorist organization.

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PIJ rockets on Sunday caused warning sirens to sound for the first time in the current round of violence in the capital of Israel, Jerusalem.

Israels government said 450-470 rockets fired by PIJ entered Israel and 120 failed in their mission and crashed into the Gaza Strip.

Israels sophisticated Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted 97% of the PIJ rockets heading toward civilian population centers.

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According to the Eshkol Regional Council, a PIJ missile struck a home in a community under its jurisdiction near the southern Gaza Strip. The family was in a bomb shelter at the time.

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

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Palestinian Islamic Jihads rocket barrages on Israel trace back to 'Iran's regional tentacles,' experts say - Fox News

VIENNA -- Top negotiators in renewed talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal indicated Sunday that they are optimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement to impose limits on Tehran's uranium enrichment.

We stand 5 minutes or 5 seconds from the finish line, Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov told reporters outside Viennas Palais Coburg, four days into the talks. He said there are 3 or 4 issues left to be resolved.

They are sensitive, especially for Iranians and Americans, Ulyanov said. I cannot guarantee, but the impression is that we are moving in the right direction.

Enrique Mora, the European Unions top negotiator, also said he is absolutely optimistic about the talks progress so far.

We are advancing, and I expect we will close the negotiations soon, he told Iranian media.

Negotiators from Iran, the U.S. and the European Union resumed indirect talks over Tehrans tattered nuclear deal Thursday after a months-long standstill in negotiations.

Since the deals de facto collapse, Iran has been running advanced centrifuges and rapidly growing its stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran struck the nuclear deal in 2015 with the U.S., France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China. The deal saw Iran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium under the watch of U.N. inspectors in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Then U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the accord in 2018, saying he would negotiate a stronger deal, but that didnt happen. Iran began breaking the deals terms a year later.

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Negotiators optimistic about progress on Iran nuclear deal - ABC News

With war in Ukraine grinding well past the four month mark, on July 19th, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a trip to Iran, where he received a hearty endorsement for his violent incursion into Eastern Europe. In Iran, Mr. Putin met with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei offered not just verbal support of the war, but also agreed to provide as many as 300 drones to Russia, according to U.S. intelligence. This partnership, which had existed in a more tentative form before the war, has quickly solidified, with Russia finding itself increasingly isolated from the global economy, as Iran has been for years. Iran offers Mr. Putin a chance to form an economic partnership and learn from a state that has experience functioning under severe sanctions.

Khamenei, taking a much more decisive stance than Russias fair-weather Chinese partners, told Mr. Putin that War is a violent and difficult endeavor, and the Islamic Republic is not at all happy that people are caught up in war. But in the case of Ukraine, if you had not taken the helm, the other side would have done so and initiated a war. Behind these sentiments is a strengthening bond between the two nations, commercially and diplomatically. Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Groups Iran director, described the necessity both sides feel to pursue linkages, saying Russia and Iran still dont trust one another, but now they need each other more than ever. This is no longer a partnership of choice, but an alliance out of necessity. Yuri Ushakov, the Russian foreign policy advisor, told reporters in Moscow that the contact with Khamenei is very important. A trusting dialogue has developed between them on the most important issues on the bilateral and international agenda.

Oil remains an important part of the Russia-Iran relationship. The increase in oil prices due to the war in Ukraine could give Iran more leverage to push for concessions from Washington in negotiations regarding the renewal of a 2015 nuclear deal, where Iran agreed to slow nuclear development in return for eased sanctions. Russias massive energy corporation, Gazprom, looking to keep a foothold in the energy markets, has signed a nonbinding $40 billion agreement to help develop Iranian gas and oil fields. However, oil could become a source of contention, as Western sanctions have forced Russian producers to shift towards Eastern markets, who have traditionally bought from Iran. In particular, Russias highly discounted gas sales to Beijing have significantly reduced Iranian crude exports to China. This is a hard blow to the Iranians, leaving nearly 40 million barrels of their oil on tankers in Asiatic seas, looking for a buyer. This will be an important development to watch, because as Russia lowers prices and finds new customers in order to sell around sanctions, they are increasingly edging allies Iran and Venezuela out of the market. A Canada-based political analyst has pointed out that Iran is at a major economic and political disadvantage in the post-Ukraine war environment.

The military relationship between the two countries seems to be going strong. A White House disclosure reported that during Putins visit to Iran, he implored Iran to help the Russians replenish their stocks of armed and unarmed surveillance drones. Top U.S. officials have said that Iran is willing to provide as many as 300 remotely piloted aircraft and will start training Russian troops on how to use them shortly. This collaboration has been in the making for months, with a Russian delegation visiting Iranian airfields twice in the early summer of 2022. According to U.S. satellite imagery, Russians reviewed Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones. Iran has extensive experience developing and flying drones. In the past, theyve supplied drone technology to Houthi rebels in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On the war front in Ukraine, particularly in the Donbas, drones are essential to success, as they have taken on a large role in modern warfare, in insurgency, counterterrorism, and even conventional-style operations. Samuel Bendett, a specialist on Russian drones, reports that while the Russians still have drones, they dont have all the types they need. Throughout the fighting, Russia has gone through most of its precision-guided weapons and the drones it uses to help guide long-range artillery strike targets. It has also lost dozens of reconnaissance drones and has struggled to build large quantities of armed drones and remotely piloted aircraft that can fly for long periods of time. In what has become essentially an artillery war, small unmanned aircraft play a critical role in Russias ability to target Ukrainian forces and report coordinates to longer-range weapons. The drone sales have not yet been publicly confirmed, but will represent a major shift once they are completed, according to P.W. Singer, a New America strategist: Russia is used to selling military gear to nations like Iran, not the other way around.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Russias relationship with Iran will most certainly continue evolving. Seeing as President Biden visited Israel and various Arab countries around the same time that Mr. Putin visited Tehran, it is clear that two opposing blocs have been forming in the Middle East. However, most see the Iran-Russia axis as a partnership formed out of necessity by two entities that are ultimately commercial competitors. Abdolrasool Divsallar, a visiting professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, told DW that a major part of Irans motive to work with Russia is driven by its urgent economic needs and lack of alternatives. Iran cannot dismiss its relations with Eastern powers like Russia, as long as there are no options in the West. Experts are divided over whether opening up Western markets to Iran will weaken its devotion to Russia, perhaps depriving Mr. Putins regime of a supporter in their crusade to burn Ukrainian democracy to the ground. It will be up to the U.S. and NATO allies to decide based upon their read of Irans broader intentions: will they concede on nuclear restrictions and human rights demands and allow Iran into Western oil markets desperate for relief from sky-high prices, or will they adhere to a policy of isolation?

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Sanctioned States Unite: Iran And Russia Forge New Partnerships In Oil and Drones - The Organization for World Peace