France: Israel will not launch Iran attack 'at this stage'
EU's representative in Israel tries to quell local fears of deal with Iran. French FM says sanctions to come into effect in December, says Israel would not launch attack soon because 'no one would understand'
France's foreign minister said Monday that the European Union would likely lift some sanctions on Iran
in December, as part of a hard-won deal that curbs Tehran's nuclear program, as the EU ambassador-designate to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, sought to reassure the Israelis over a nuclear deal struck with Iran.
Fabius also said Israel – which blasted Sunday's agreement as a "historic mistake" – was not likely to launch any preventative strikes on arch-foe Iran, "because no one would understand" such a move "at this stage."
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Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Fabius said that EU foreign ministers would gather together in "a few weeks" to put forward a proposal to partially lift some sanctions, which the 28-member body will have to approve.
"This lifting of sanctions is limited, targeted and reversible," he said, adding that it would take place "in December."
Meanwhile, the EU's Faaborg-Andersen tried to quell Israeli fears in a meeting of EU ambassadors together with Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz in Jerusalem.
"We very much have Israel's security at heart," he said.
Faaborg-Andersen condemned "inflammatory statements (on Israel) coming out of Iran," saying it was "only natural that Israel wants to weigh in on these important negotiations that have been conducted with Iran."
But he hailed the deal as the "first time in ten years" at which Iran's nuclear program had been significantly curbed.
Israel: Not satisfied
Steinitz, for his part, told the envoys "we are not satisfied, to say the least," with the deal. "Actually, we're quite disappointed with the agreement that was signed yesterday."The deal will see Iran cut down its uranium enrichment, but Steinitz said there must be a complete halt.
"Our main concern is that Iran will remain, according to this agreement, a threshold nuclear country, which means countries that can produce nuclear weapons in less than a year."
He said sanctions had been "sufficient to reach a much better and more comprehensive deal."
But he stressed the need to keep sharing intelligence with the EU and ensure a final deal acceptable to Israel.
"The dialogue between us and the European Union...on this topic...is very good, open dialogue, even while we beg to disagree," Steinitz said.
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