Entry of vaccinated tourists postponed until August after rise in infections
PM: Our goal is to protect Israel’s citizens • Mask mandate to return if high infection rate continues • Over 100 cases logged for third day in row
Vaccinated foreign tourists are not going to be allowed into Israel before August 1, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government decided on Wednesday, as Israel faces an increase in coronavirus cases.
In addition, the obligation to wear masks indoors will be restored if the average daily cases will exceed 100 for a week.
“Our goal at the moment, first and foremost, is to protect the citizens of Israel from the Delta variant which is raging in the world,” Bennett said. “At the same time, we want to reduce as
presented ways to block Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the IDF Spokesperson said.
Kohavi was also expected to meet with CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Talk in Tehran that the US is close to lifting oil sanctions is an exaggeration, the source with knowledge of the American side of the talks said.
Iranian remarks, by outgoing President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, echoed previous assertions by officials in Rouhani’s pragmatist camp that Washington is prepared to make major concessions at the talks, under way since April in Vienna.
“An agreement has been reached to remove all insurance, oil and shipping sanctions that were imposed by [former US president Donald] Trump,” Rouhani’s chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Earlier this week, Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian judiciary chief who was sanctioned by the US for human rights violations in light of his involvement in thousands of executions, won the Iranian presidential election. Raisi is due to replace Rouhani in August.
Vaezi said the United States had agreed to take some senior Iranian figures off a blacklist.
“About 1,040 Trump-era sanctions will be lifted under the agreement. It was also agreed to lift some sanctions on individuals and members of the supreme leader’s inner circle.”
Like other Western and Iranian negotiators who have said the talks remain a long way from conclusion, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday that Tehran and the powers still had to overcome significant hurdles.
“We are making progress, but there are still some nuts to crack,” Maas told a joint news conference with Blinken. Maas said a deal was possible even after the election of Raisi, an implacable critic of the West.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Sunday there was still “a fair distance to travel,” including on sanctions and on the nuclear commitments that Iran has to make to salvage the tattered deal.
A State Department spokesperson said in response to Vaezi’s remarks that “the precise nature and sequence of the sanctions-related steps that the United States would need to take to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA objective is a subject of the talks. As we have said, this has been a long road. We’ve continued to make progress toward defining the contours of an understanding of how we can return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA. During negotiations of this complexity, negotiators try to draft text that capture the main issues, but again, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
Some Iranian officials have suggested Tehran may prefer an agreement before Raisi takes office, to give the new president a clean slate and avoid blame if problems subsequently arise.
The Biden administration aims to restore the deal, but the sides disagree on which steps need to be taken and when, to defuse mutual suspicions and ensure full compliance.
Iran agreed in 2015 to curbs on its uranium enrichment program, a possible pathway to nuclear weapons, in return for the lifting of international sanctions. The limitations on the nuclear program will expire in 2030 under the original agreement.
Trump abandoned the agreement three years later, calling it flawed to Iran’s advantage, and reimposed harsh sanctions that hammered Iran’s economy.
Tehran responded by violating enrichment limits and starting to develop uranium metal.
Kohavi was in Washington on Wednesday, where he met with Sullivan and other senior officials to discuss regional challenges, foremost of which was Iranian aggression and its nuclear ambitions, and presented ways to block Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the IDF said.
Kohavi was also expected to meet with CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
The talk in Tehran that the US is close to lifting oil sanctions is an exaggeration, the source with knowledge of the American side of the talks said. contributed to this
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