Israel to Pressure Biden to Scrap Nuclear Talks: Iran Snapshot

(Bloomberg) -- Here is a snapshot of what’s happening with Iran, its nuclear talks and energy markets.

Latest developments

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will try to persuade U.S. President Joe Biden against reviving a nuclear deal with Iran when the two leaders meet in Washington on Thursday.

American officials are mulling their options after months of talks with Iran failed to produce an agreement.

Bennett will present an “orderly plan that we have formulated in the past two months,” he said on Twitter. It will curb Iran’s atomic activities and its “regional aggression,” he said.

The 2015 accord -- which limited Iran’s nuclear program in return for U.S. sanctions relief -- is “no longer relevant, even by the standards of those who once thought that it was,” Bennett said. Israel has a long-standing opposition to the pact, which it says gives Iran the ability to build an atomic bomb more easily.

Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in mid-2018 and Iran has since ramped up its enrichment of uranium.

Negotiations between Tehran and other world powers including the U.S. and European Union have stalled since Iran’s election in June. New President Ebrahim Raisi hasn’t yet signaled when they might resume. Without a deal, Iran’s oil exports are likely to remain under American sanctions.

Bennett, who became prime minister in June, will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi soon after he’s back from the U.S., he said.

“We are now in a very rapid process, of restoring relations with the entire region so that together we can build a coalition to block Islamic and Iranian extremism,” he said.

Separately, Iran on Sunday urged Japan to release millions of dollars worth of oil money frozen by the U.S. sanctions. 

Latest coverage

• Biden, Bennett to Discuss Covid, Iran at Thursday Meeting
• Israel PM to Bring Biden Plan to Curb Iranian Arms Progress
• Iran Urges Japan to Release Funds Trapped by U.S. Sanctions
• Iran’s Rapid Oil Return Looks Less Likely After Ship Attacks
• Biden’s Iran Nuclear Deal Ambitions Shrink as Tensions Flare

Oil

Oil snapped seven straight days of losses, with Brent crude climbing 2% to $66.50 a barrel in early trading on Monday. The rebound comes amid a broader market recovery following last week’s rout as the delta variant of the Coronavirus continued to spread.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a note Monday that oil’s selloff in the past month was overdone. The bank is sticking with its year-end forecast of $80 a barrel.

With the nuclear talks stalling, traders have pushed back their expectations for Iran’s return to global oil markets. If their is a deal, many analysts expect Tehran to be able to boost production by around 1 million barrels a day within months.

Agenda

Aug. 26: Biden and Bennett to meet in Washington

Sept. 1: OPEC+ meeting

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