Israel is deeply concerned, Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Wednesday, on the eve of the new round of nuclear talks between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Steinitz, who returned over the weekend from strategic dialogue in Washington that focused largely on Iran, said that the Iranians have shown "no real flexibility."
The positions of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqhchi are no different than the positions of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. "The only thing that has changed is the tone," Steinitz said.
"The Iranians continue in their insistence now as they did under Ahmadinejad, to retain most of the centrifuges and the heavy water reactor in Arak. There is no real difference."
Steinitz said Israel is "disturbed" and that "no deal is better than a bad deal."