Israel believes the US and Iran are still within weeks of reviving a nuclear deal, despite Washington claiming Tehran’s latest response in negotiations was “not constructive.”
The US’s comment on Thursday was the latest in a series of back and forth between the adversaries.
The Israeli assessment is contained in a non-public report compiled by the Foreign Ministry’s political research department, Channel 12 said on Friday.
“The American administration continues to see the agreement as the only way to deal with the Iranian nuclear program,” the report said, according to Channel 12.
The Foreign Ministry report said the US and Iran are more realistic about one another’s positions than before.
Details of Iran’s latest response have remained unknown, but the US State Department said it received the text via the EU.
“We are studying it and will respond through the EU, but unfortunately it is not constructive,” a State Department spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said: “Some gaps have closed in recent weeks – but others remain.”
Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia, as well as the United States indirectly, resumed talks on the nuclear accord last month.
