Talks extension good sign; Israel afraid of Iran’s influence: Fetzer

An American scholar says an extension of nuclear talks between Iran and the global powers is a “good sign”.

As it had been voiced by negotiators earlier, the two sides missed the self-imposed June-end deadline with the US State Department saying on Tuesday that the two sides had decided to “extend the measures under (2013 interim deal) until July 7 to allow more time for negotiations to reach a long-term solution".

James Henry Fetzer, who is a journalist with Veterans Truth Network and a retired professor based in Madison, Wisconsin, told Press TV on Tuesday that the move is a “promising sign given the extent of the efforts that have been made to scuttle the talks especially by Israel.”

Tel Aviv has spared no effort to hamper the deal through pressuring the US and joining hands with some Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Citing a leaked report by Mossad that appears to attest Iran’s argument that it is pursuing non-military goals in its nuclear program, Fetzer rejected allegations by Israel that Iran is seeking nuclear bombs, saying the regime’s true aim is to “mitigate” Tehran’s influence in the region through “crippling sanctions”.

“Israel wants to dominate [the Middle East] completely and in an uncontested fashion,” Fetzer said rejecting the sanctions as a violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

The sanctions “are properly understood as war crime. It’s shameful that the United States should be engaged in war crime,” Fetzer said.

“We already know that a nuclear weapons program is a non-existing program as our own succeeding American intelligence agencies concluded,” said the US scholar.

According to a secret cable, released in February by Al Jazeera television network, the Israeli spy agency sent a top-secret cable to South Africa's State Security Agency (SSA) in October 2012 which presented a "bottom line" assessment of Iran's nuclear work.

In the report, Mossad concluded that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons.”

A similar CIA report, leaked earlier, disclosed that Washington tried to mislead the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Iran’s nuclear program through the provision of doctored evidence.

If a final deal is reached by June 7, it would lift all nuclear-related sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic in exchange for certain steps Tehran will take with regard to its nuclear program.

NT/NT

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