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What Israel wants from an Iran peace deal: No enrichment, missile limits and strict enforcement

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What Israel wants from an Iran peace deal: No enrichment, missile limits and strict enforcement

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As President Donald Trump signals progress toward a possible agreement with Iran, Israeli officials and analysts increasingly are outlining what Jerusalem believes any deal must include to prevent Tehran from rebuilding its military and regional power.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel and the United States remain in “full coordination” as negotiations continue.

“We share common objectives, and the most important objective is the removal of the enriched material from Iran, all the enriched material, and the dismantling of Iran’s enrichment capabilities,” Netanyahu said at the opening of a security cabinet meeting.

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Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran, on April 29, 2024. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday. 

At the same time, Trump warned that if negotiations fail, “we’ll have to go a big step further.”

For Israel, the question is not simply whether the war ends, but whether Iran emerges from negotiations weakened or repositioned to rebuild. Israeli officials fear a weak agreement could allow Tehran to preserve strategic capabilities, regain economic breathing room and eventually restore the regional network of armed groups that threatened Israel before the war. Jerusalem is also seeking guarantees that any future deal preserves military leverage and freedom of action if Iran violates its commitments.

Against that backdrop, Israeli analysts say Jerusalem’s red lines focus on four core areas: dismantling Iran’s enrichment infrastructure, restricting its ballistic missile program, preventing Tehran from rebuilding Hezbollah and Hamas, and ensuring the regime does not gain political legitimacy or strategic relief from the negotiations.

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No enrichment, no sunsets

On the nuclear issue, former Israeli National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror said Israel’s position remains uncompromising.

“Weaponized uranium must leave Iran,” Amidror said. “The Iranians must not be allowed to enrich uranium.”

Israeli journalist and commentator Nadav Eyal agreed, adding that Israel is seeking a much stricter framework than previous agreements. 

“Israel wants Iran to stop enrichment for as long as possible and for the enriched material to leave Iran,” Eyal said, adding that Jerusalem is looking for “an arms control agreement that would be extensive and robust.”

An unclassified image released by U.S. Central Command showing strikes on Iran. (U.S. Central Command/Reuters)

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Avner Golov, vice president of the Mind Israel think tank, told Fox News Digital that Israel also wants Iran’s underground nuclear infrastructure dismantled entirely. 

“In the nuclear arena, what matters is the removal of the enriched material, the destruction of the underground facilities, including those still being built, and a prohibition on new sites,” Golov said.

Golov also warned against “sunset clauses” that would allow restrictions to expire after several years. 

“There must be an agreement without sunsets,” he said, calling for “unprecedented monitoring and supervision, anywhere, under any conditions and not dependent on Iranian approval.”

Jonathan Ruhe, Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) fellow for American strategy, told Fox News Digital, “Ultimately the United States and Israel should have strongly similar redlines for an acceptable deal,” he said, including “shutting down Iran’s nuclear weapons program completely, permanently and verifiably.”

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Ruhe said that goes beyond Iran handing over highly enriched uranium and includes shutting down remaining enrichment-related facilities at Pickaxe and Isfahan.

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President Donald Trump speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Oct. 13, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Missiles seen as equal threat

Alongside the nuclear issue, Israeli analysts say Iran’s ballistic missile program has become equally central to Israel’s security concerns.

“One of the key questions is whether there will be any sort of limitation on the ballistic missile program of the Iranians,” Eyal said. “Israel sees this as no less of an existential threat than the nuclear issue.”

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Amidror warned that without missile restrictions, the threat could eventually extend beyond Israel and Europe. 

“If there are no restrictions on the missile program, then missiles that today can reach half of Europe will, within five to 10 years, be able to reach the United States,” he warned.

Golov argued that a nuclear-only agreement would leave Iran free to rebuild a missile shield protecting a future nuclear breakout. 

“A deal that focuses only on the nuclear program would allow the Iranians to produce thousands of missiles and create a protective shield around their nuclear program.”

Ruhe similarly said limiting Iran’s missile arsenal must include preventing Iran from rebuilding production capabilities damaged during the war.

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Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts projectiles over Tel Aviv on Feb. 28, 2026, amid retaliatory missile barrages from Iran targeting Gulf states and Israel. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Hamas, Hezbollah and the proxies question

Another major Israeli concern is that sanctions relief or renewed trade could funnel money back to Iran’s regional proxies.

“Israel is demanding that the Islamic Republic isolate itself from involvement with Lebanon and Gaza and stop supporting armed groups that operate against Israel,” Eyal said.

“For Israel, it is a material issue that the money injected into Iran will not be used to rebuild the proxies in the region,” he added.

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Amidror said Iran’s ability to support Hezbollah and Hamas has already been weakened by the collapse of regional supply routes. 

“The Iranians cannot effectively support the proxies because there is no longer a land bridge from Iran to Syria,” he said, but warned that if negotiations leave the impression that Washington backed down, Iran’s regional proxies could emerge stronger even after the war.

No ‘victory image’ for Tehran

Ruhe similarly argued that Israel wants to avoid any agreement that restores legitimacy to the Iranian regime without fundamentally weakening it.

“Avoiding anything that legitimates Iran’s regime and abandons the Iranian people” is critical, Ruhe said, including “giving guarantees against future attacks or compensating Tehran for wartime damages.”

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Satellite imagery shows reinforcement efforts at the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, a heavily fortified, deep underground tunnel complex near Iran’s Natanz enrichment site. (Vantor/Handout via Reuters)

Ruhe warned that for Israel, a “bad deal” is ultimately any agreement that restrains Israel’s future freedom of action against Iran and its proxies.

“This is one big reason Iran wants to ensnare the Trump administration in open-ended negotiations that sideline military options and create daylight between Washington and Jerusalem,” Ruhe said.

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Record number of climbers summit Mount Everest from Nepali side despite overcrowding concerns

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Record number of climbers summit Mount Everest from Nepali side despite overcrowding concerns

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A record 274 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest in a single day this week, as critics warn the world’s tallest peak is becoming dangerously overcrowded with thrill-seekers willing to pay $15,000 for a shot at the top.

The surge shattered the previous Nepali record of 223 climbers set in 2019, Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told Reuters on Thursday.

“This is the highest number of climbers in a single day so far,” Bhandari said, adding that the final summit total could rise even further as some climbers had not yet officially reported their successful ascents.

Nepal has already issued 494 Everest climbing permits this season, each costing climbers $15,000.

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EXTREME TRAVEL DESTINATION TO RESTRICT POPULAR MOUNTAIN ACCESS

Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to the summit of Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, Nepal, on May 18, 2026. (Purnima Shrestha/Reuters)

Climbers this year are ascending only from the Nepal side of Everest because China reportedly did not issue permits for expeditions from the Tibetan side.

Nepal has already issued 494 Everest climbing permits this season, each costing climbers $15,000. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Mountaineering experts have long criticized Nepal for allowing large numbers of climbers on Everest, warning that overcrowding can create life-threatening bottlenecks high on the mountain in Everest’s deadly “death zone,” where oxygen levels plunge to dangerously low levels.

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Mountaineers line up as they climb a slope during their ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal on May 31, 2021. (Lakpa Sherpa/AFP)

Nepal has attempted to respond to safety concerns in recent years by tightening rules and increasing fees for climbers, though some expedition leaders have defended the high number of climbers.

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“If teams carry enough oxygen it is not a big problem,” expedition organizer Lukas Furtenbach of the Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures told the outlet. “We have mountains in the Alps like the Zugspitze where we have 4,000 persons on top per day. So 274 is actually not a big number, considering this mountain is 10 times bigger.”

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Merz’s plan of ‘associate membership’ for Ukraine gets mixed reviews

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Merz’s plan of ‘associate membership’ for Ukraine gets mixed reviews

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s groundbreaking plan to grant Ukraine “associate membership” in the European Union has received mixed reviews in Brussels, with questions raised about its legality, feasibility and political implications.

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In a letter to his fellow leaders, seen by Euronews, Merz proposes a tailor-made status that would give Ukraine access to decision-making bodies without voting rights or portfolio and to certain EU-funded programmes on a “step-by-step” basis.

He also envisions Kyiv able to request assistance from other member states in the event of armed aggression through Article 42.7 of the EU treaties. This, he argues, would create a “substantial security guarantee” to deter Russia.

“It is now time to boldly move on with Ukraine’s EU integration through innovative solutions as immediate steps forward,” Merz tells his peers.

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In Brussels, Merz’s letter drew attention and raised eyebrows amid ongoing efforts to lift Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s accession by the time the 27 leaders meet in June.

His push was compared to the op-ed that the chancellor wrote last year endorsing the use of Russia’s immobilised assets to finance a so-called reparations loan to Ukraine. The op-ed shocked Brussels, and the audacious project eventually collapsed.

The letter is “a rather hasty statement, and not very well coordinated. The timing is strange, especially since in June we will have good news with the opening of the cluster, so this letter is a bit surprising,” said a diplomat, warning of widespread scepticism.

“We need to do things differently. There is indeed a timeline, with June in view, and there is a method. Things will move forward.”

A second diplomat cast serious doubt on Merz’s assertion that the “associate membership” would not require amending the EU treaties, just strong political will.

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“I don’t see how this could work from a legal point of view. You would need to change the treaties for that. Associate members with all institutions by way of political arrangement? I don’t see it,” the diplomat said.

A third diplomat said that in the letter, “some ideas are better than others”, while a fourth noted the real debate among member states was yet to begin.

‘Merit-based’ focus

By contrast, the European Commission, which oversees the accession process, was more positive and welcomed Merz’s proposal as showing a “strong commitment from member states to make enlargement a reality as soon as possible”.

“It is increasingly clear that enlargement is a geostrategic investment in our prosperity, peace, and security. And Ukraine’s accession to the European Union is also fundamentally linked to the security of our union,” Guillaume Mercier, the Commission’s spokesperson for enlargement, said in a statement.

“It is equally important that we deliver on the completion of the Union with all the candidate countries that have been working towards accession for many years.”

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Mercier noted that any innovative solution should be underpinned by the “merit-based” logic that is supposed to guide the complex multi-chapter accession process.

Earlier this year, the Commission pitched a “reversed” membership under which Ukraine would become a formal EU member and progressively obtain the tangible benefits that come with it. Capitals largely rebuffed the idea, calling it dangerous and unrealistic.

Merz’s pitch suggests gradual integration to access EU funds and high-level fora, but with formal membership only at the very end of the road.

The German letter comes as the bloc sees a window of opportunity to finally lift the Hungarian veto on Ukraine’s accession, which has left the process paralysed for two years. The new government in Budapest has launched consultations with Kyiv to discuss the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, a politically sensitive issue.

Brussels hopes that enough progress will be made to lift the veto in June and open the first cluster of negotiations with Ukraine, known as fundamentals, with the remaining five clusters unblocked across the remainder of the year.

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It remains unclear how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will react to Merz’s letter. Last month, he flat-out rejected any overture for “symbolic” membership.

“Ukraine is defending itself and is definitely defending Europe,” he said. “And it is not defending Europe symbolically – people are really dying.”

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Video: Hall of ‘Eternal Flame’ Burns Down in Japan

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Video: Hall of ‘Eternal Flame’ Burns Down in Japan

new video loaded: Hall of ‘Eternal Flame’ Burns Down in Japan

The sacred site of a flame that was lit more than 1,200 years ago, according to Buddhist spiritual leaders, burned down on Wednesday in southwestern Japan.
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