U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is said to have made significant concession over Iran's nuclear program in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Photo: Wikimedia

The US and Iran are nearing a deal which would permit the Tehran regime to maintain as many as 6,500 centrifuges for its nuclear program in exchange for “guaranteeing regional stability,” Israel’s Army radio reported today.

The report cited Israeli officials who quoted European diplomats telling them that the US had agreed to significant concessions to the Iranians in recent negotiations.  The report added that the EU is opposed to linking the nuclear issue to the maintenance of stability in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, where Iranian influence has been steadily growing.

The EU diplomats are said to be deeply concerned that the US has been working behind their backs to achieve such a deal, and that this was the main issue discussed at a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif two weeks ago.

Research by the highly-regarded Institute for Science and International Security concluded that for a nuclear deal with Iran to be effective, Iran would have to dismantle over 15,000 centrifuges to bring their total to no more than 4,000. Iranian officials have repeatedly insisted that they will not reduce their enrichment capacity, The Tower reported.

Israel fears that an agreement on these lines would leave Iran only a few months away from weaponizing its nuclear program – a nightmare situation that Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to thwart at all costs.

Despite the criticism he has received for inviting Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in early March on the Iranian nuclear issue, US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said he didn’t regret the decision.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has akso offered a ringing endorsement of Netanyahu’s right to speak frankly about the threat posed by Iran.

Speaking to an audience at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, Giuliani said that any meaningful deal over Iran’s nuclear program would mean that Tehran should have “virtually no possibility of maintaining any nuclear arsenal.”

“I therefore deeply admire Prime Minister Netanyahu for speaking out on this issue, but he honestly has no choice,” Giuliani declared.  “If someone threatens to kill you, you simply don’t give them the gun to do it, unless there’s something wrong with you.”