The assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last year did not accomplish what Israel hoped to achieve, an unnamed Israeli official was quoted as saying by a Channel 12 News report on Tuesday night.

“The killing of Fakhrizadeh a year ago did not slow down Iran’s progress as was hoped,” the official said. “Iran’s program is currently the most advanced it’s ever been.”

The official added that in light of the situation, Israel is engaging in extensive efforts, publicly and behind the scenes, to urge world powers for an improved agreement while simultaneously developing a serious military attack plan.

Talks on the resumption of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers resumed in Vienna on Monday, almost six months after they were suspended in June.

According to a tweet on Tuesday by Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian envoy to the international bodies in Vienna, the US is willing to lift sanctions in exchange for Iran’s “compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.”

“The #US confirms its readiness to lift all #sanctions inconsistent with the #JCPOA in exchange for return of #Iran to full compliance with JCPOA,” Ulyanov wrote. “But in multilateral diplomacy, the devil is in the details. The concrete list of sanctions to be lifted is subject to negotiations.”

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday called on world powers not to “give in to Iran’s nuclear blackmail.”

Bennett said in a video statement that was delivered to representatives of nations opening negotiations with Iran that Tehran seeks “to end sanctions in exchange for almost nothing” and keep its nuclear program intact while receiving hundreds of billions of dollars once sanctions are lifted.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)