The Iran nuclear program's Arak heavy-water reactor. Photo: Nanking2012/Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israel is “deeply concerned” because Iran is showing “no real flexibility” in negotiations over its nuclear program, Israeli Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said Wednesday ahead of the resumption of talks between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 powers in New York.

“The reason that we are deeply concerned is that we feel that the negotiation is going wrong, going in the wrong direction,” Steinitz told reporters in Jerusalem. “So far the Iranians have shown no real flexibility on the two main issues: the issue of the centrifuge facilities, centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium, and the heavy-water reactor in Arak.”

After failing to reach a final agreement by a July deadline, Iran and the P5+1 powers extended the nuclear talks to Nov. 24.

“We are deeply concerned that a deal might be a bad deal,” Steinitz said. “And therefore we want to re-emphasize President Obama’s very important principle… that, in this case, no deal is better than a bad deal.”