By Michael Wilner and Reuters
The Jerusalem Post, Page 3
Israeli assertions that President Barack Obama has conceded to 80 percent of Tehran's demands in negotiations over its nuclear program are completely inaccurate, a senior US official says.
"That's complete nonsense," a senior US officials told The Jerusalem Post, responding to a report by Channel 10 on Friday.
In the report, anonymous Israeli officials said the president "has given the Iranians 89 percent of what they want" out of the talks.
The United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany are negotiating with Iran toward a comprehensive agreement over its nuclear program, hoping to clinch a political framework by the end of March.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, growing frustrated with hard-line resistance to a nuclear deal, accused opponents of effectively "cheering on" the other side in the grueling negotiations with world powers.
Iran holds ‘counter-sabotage’ drills at enrichment plant
By Times of Israel staff
The Times of Israel website
Iran held a series of unscheduled, wide-ranging drills at the Fordo underground uranium enrichment facility on Friday to train its personnel how to react in the event of a military strike, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
The “counter-sabotage” exercises, organized by Iran’s atomic energy agency, aimed to “upgrade the skills, knowledge and preparedness level of its experts and reduce their reaction time against foreign threats,” the report said.
The drills were code-named “Mersad,” and various branches of the facility operations – security, engineering, fire and nuclear safety – were said to take part.
The unplanned drills were deemed by unnamed experts to be “the most crucial and most effective exercises in the history of the country’s civil defense,” the report said.
The drills came as several Hebrew media reports said the nuclear deal shaping up between Iran and the Western powers would leave Tehran with thousands of centrifuges spinning – 6,500, according to Channel 2; over 7,000, according to Channel 10 – and thus capable of breaking out to a nuclear bomb within months. The reports were later disputed by US officials.
Israel’s Channel 10 news said Friday that the deal taking shape between the P5+1 countries and Tehran would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium in “over 7,000″ centrifuges. It quoted unnamed Jerusalem sources saying the terms of the deal would leave Iran “closer than was thought” to nuclear weapons, “mere months from producing enough material for a bomb,” and that the US has agreed to 80% of Iran’s demands.
A similar report on Channel 2 news Friday said the US was ready for Iran to keep enriching uranium in 6,500 of its 9,000 centrifuges. It also said that the US was proposing “a time limit” on the deal – possibly of 10 or 15 years – after which “Iran will be free to continue a nuclear industry.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was said to have indicated to confidants that he feels he has “no choice” but to speak out against the imminent deal, including on March 3 to Congress, Channel 10 said. Netanyahu does not intend to speak against Obama, or to give a partisan address, or to focus overly on sanctions, but rather to talk strongly against the deal, the report said.
Jordan threatens to execute IS prisoners if pilot harmed
By AP and The Times of Israel staff
The Times of Israel website
The Jordanian government has reportedly threatened to execute IS-affiliated prisoners already sentenced to death if a Jordanian pilot held captive by the terror group is harmed.
According to a report in the Kuwaiti paper al-Rai quoting Jordanian sources. Jordan relayed a message via a third party to IS telling the group that the trials of “jihadist prisoners close to ISIS” may be expedited.
The family of a Jordanian fighter pilot said Saturday it has received no word on his fate since the militants threatened to kill him earlier this week.
The Islamic State group purportedly threatened to kill Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh by Thursday unless Jordan released a female al-Qaeda prisoner, Sajida al-Rishawi, from death row. Jordan has said it cannot release her without proof the pilot is alive.
The fate of the 26-year-old airman has been linked to that of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, who also is being held by the militants.
Japan’s deputy foreign minister, Yasuhide Nakayama, said late Friday that efforts to free Goto are “in a state of deadlock.”
“The deadline has passed, and it is a reality that several hours have passed since then, so we are doing our utmost to gain more information,” he said.
In their purported ultimatum, the militants did not say what would happen to Goto if al-Rishawi is not released.
The family of the pilot also said there has been no word.
“We are waiting,” Jawad al-Kaseasbeh, a brother of the pilot, said Saturday. “We received nothing new, neither from the government nor from informal sources.”
Al-Kaseasbeh’s plane went down over an Islamic State-controlled area of northeastern Syria in December. He is the first foreign pilot to be captured by the group since a US-led military coalition began carrying out airstrikes against the extremists in September. Jordan is part of the coalition.
Hamas says Egypt no longer a viable mediator with Israel
By Times of Israel staff, AP and AFP
The Times of Israel website
A source close to Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said Saturday the group no longer recognizes Egypt as a broker with Israel, following an Egyptian court’s decision to label the group a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Egypt announced plans for a unified task force to combat militants in the Sinai Peninsula as its president vowed a long and difficult battle against terrorism.
“After the court’s decision Egypt is no longer a mediator in Palestinian-Israeli matters,” a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday, hours after the court’s ruling. Cairo has long been a go-between for both parties and has played a pivotal role in brokering a number of ceasefires in Gaza, including at the end of last summer’s war.
Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s former prime minister in the Gaza Strip, lambasted Cairo over the announcement, saying “you [Egyptians] have lost your sense of justice.”
“The Brigades are a source of pride, respect and bravery,” he said, according to Ynet.
Clashes in Egypt’s Sinai after jihadists kill 30
The Times of Israel website
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) – Egypt‘s army and jihadists clashed in Sinai Friday, leaving two children dead, as President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi flew home early from an African summit after attacks by extremists killed at least 30 people.
The top brass vowed to hunt down those behind the violence.
Health officials said a six-month-old baby was hit in the head by a bullet during the clashes and a six-year-old was killed in a rocket blast in the Sinai Peninsula.
Two more people including a 12-year-old were badly wounded.
Friday’s violence came a day after jihadists targeted security forces with rockets and a car bomb in North Sinai province in simultaneous attacks claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group.
Security officials said the bodies of the 30 victims, most of them soldiers, had been flown to Cairo.
Sissi pulled out of an African Union summit in Ethiopia and flew home “to monitor the situation,” his office said.
It was the deadliest wave of attacks since October when 30 soldiers were killed and scores wounded in simultaneous assaults.