MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
We begin this hour with negotiations on the war in Iran. And we're going to hear from one country in the Middle East that is not happy about the deal the U.S. is trying to broker with Iran. That country is Israel. We have NPR's Daniel Estrin on the line from Tel Aviv to explain why. Hey, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Hey. So as we all recall, Israel and the U.S. launched this war against Iran together. President Trump is close to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. Why is Israel so unhappy with these negotiations?
ESTRIN: Well, a senior Israeli official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, put it this way. They called the emerging agreement bad. The deal, as we understand it, that's being negotiated, is that Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz for shipping, and then only later, the U.S. and Iran would try to hammer out an agreement on the future of Iran's nuclear program. And Israel is worried that this deal will just end with the Hormuz reopening part without any progress on the next part, on curbing Iran's nuclear program. That's Israel's main concern.
And another concern is money. Iran wants the U.S. to unfreeze Iran's own money held abroad in banks. Iran needs that money to regain its strength after the recent war. This is the exact opposite of what Israel wants. Israel wants to weaken the Iranian regime. It doesn't want it to be enriched. You know, the Israelis made no secret that they actually prefer a return to war in Iran to squeeze the Iranians even more and to pressure them into a deal that would be more favorable to Israel.
KELLY: Well, and Israel, I assume, is communicating all this. Is the U.S. addressing any of these Israeli concerns in this emerging deal?
ESTRIN: According to Benjamin Netanyahu, yes. He said he spoke with Trump this weekend and that Trump agreed that any final agreement with Iran would dismantle Iran's nuclear enrichment sites and that it would ensure that the enriched - highly enriched nuclear material would be removed from Iran. But there are a lot of regional dynamics at play here, Mary Louise, because it's not just about what Israel wants. There are Gulf Arab countries that are neighbors with Iran. They were attacked by Iran in the war, and these countries were all on a call with Trump over the weekend - the leaders of many of these Arab countries. And they all unanimously, according to a statement, encouraged Trump to go for a diplomatic deal with Iran.
So Trump has these countries on one side and Israel on the other, and Trump is trying to placate Israel here. He's calling on countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to turn this Iran deal into something much bigger, and he's encouraging them to join the Abraham Accords and open diplomatic ties with Israel - something that is very unlikely to happen. These countries do not want to normalize their ties with Israel now, given Israel's policy toward Palestinians.
KELLY: Yeah. You're giving us a sense of quite how complicated the landscape is. One other question to put to you, Daniel, with this Iran deal - what would it mean for Israel's war in Lebanon?
ESTRIN: Well, Iran says, yes, they want the deal to end the war in Lebanon as well. Israel does not want that. It does not want Iran dictating what happens in Lebanon. Israel is trying to sever Iran's ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah are both continuing deadly attacks. Israel doesn't want to give up the territory it occupies in southern Lebanon, and the U.S. is totally backing Israel here. The U.S. is blaming Hezbollah for the conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Israel has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah. So I would not expect Israel to leave the territory it occupies in Lebanon or stop military activity there if a deal is reached with Iran.
KELLY: Many, many threads to track as we watch and wait to see how these talks play out. NPR's Daniel Estrin reporting from Tel Aviv - thank you, Daniel.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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