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B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

The extension of the P5+1 nuclear talks with Iran demonstrates Tehran’s untrustworthiness and its well known penchant for obfuscation and procrastination. Iranian officials are stringing out these talks to achieve all they can by a policy of delay.

The P5+1 (the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom plus Germany) has already negotiated for a year. Will an additional seven months make a difference? We remain highly doubtful that it will.

The P5+1 should think seriously about Iran’s intentions and consider the efficacy of this process. With this extension now announced, it is vital to keep the sanctions against Tehran tightly in place. The P5+1 has been engaged in an effort to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. One principle objective of a deal presumably would be to make Iran’s break-out time to create a nuclear weapon one year. But that objective in itself is cause for much skepticism about Iranian intentions. This makes continuing the sanctions package against Tehran all the more important.

Even during negotiations, we need only look at Iran’s ongoing obstruction of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors (the global nuclear watchdog) to see evidence of Tehran’s intentions regarding future plans for its nuclear program.

It is imperative that the six nations engaged in this negotiation prevent Iran, the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism, from developing a nuclear weapon.

Only additional pressure on Teheran can send a clear and unequivocal message that its policy of deception is constantly being revealed. For those who have watched Iran for the past 35 years this comes as no surprise.