Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and French President Emmanuel Macron meet in Paris, France on Nov. 30, 2021. Photo: Quentin Crestinu

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned Tuesday that only a “credible military threat” can deter Iran from continued development toward nuclear weapons.

“Sanctions on Iran must not be lifted. Sanctions need to be tightened, there needs to be a credible military threat on Iran,” Lapid argued during his diplomatic visit to Paris. “Because only this will stop it from continuing its race to a nuclear weapon.”

During what Lapid described as a “long and warm meeting” with French President Emmanuel Macron, the two discussed at length the indirect talks with Iran over a nuclear deal, which resumed on Monday after a five-month break.

Senior European diplomats from Britain, France and Germany told reporters that this week would be crucial to determine whether Iran was serious about reviving the pact, which the Trump administration left in 2018. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative for Vienna-based international groups, tweeted Tuesday that the US had confirmed its readiness to lift all sanctions in exchange for a return of full compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord.

“But in multilateral diplomacy the devil is in the details. The concrete list of sanctions to be lifted is subject to negotiations,” Ulyanov added.

Meanwhile, Lapid reiterated Israel’s position that Tehran is simply trying to buy time to move forward with its nuclear program, and again emphasized the urgency of preparing a back-up plan should diplomatic efforts fail.

“After many years, Israel’s position is being heard and Israel’s position is firm,” Lapid said. “The race does not stop here, and the race does not stop with the talks in Vienna.”

Lapid said that together with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is traveling to Washington next week, Israel would continue to broadcast its view of the Iranian threat to the international community.

Macron and Lapid also discussed the bilateral relationship between the two countries and spoke about possibilities to expand and deepen cooperation in security and economic areas.