Security experts call Iran an 'existential threat' to Middle East, 'skeptical' about nuclear deal success
Fox News
The Middle East's future will rest primarily on regional alliances, with Iran looking to Russia and western nations seeking regional partners to strengthen security.
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised New Year speech in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 21, 2022. Khamenei signaled support for Tehran's nuclear negotiations to secure sanctions relief, a rare reference to the still-halted talks as world powers near a diplomatic turning point. A portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini is displayed at right. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP) MI6 Chief Richard Moore speaks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, on Nov. 30, 2021, saying that Britain's intelligence agencies must open up to cooperation with the global tech sector if they are to counter the rising cyber threats from hostile states, criminals and terrorists. ((Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)) CIA Director William Burns testifies during a House Intelligence Committee hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 15, 2021. (AL DRAGO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, released by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, showing technicians at the Arak heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, as officials and media visit the site, near Arak, 150 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran. Efforts to bring the United States back into the 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear program are to step up a gear as Iran and the five world powers remaining in the accord meet in Vienna Tuesday April 6, 2021, while the U.S. is due to start indirect talks with Tehran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP, FILE) FILE - In this Oct. 26, 2010 file photo, a worker rides a bicycle in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just outside the southern city of Bushehr. Iran’s sole nuclear power plant has undergone a temporary emergency shutdown, state TV reported on Sunday, June 20, 2021. An official from the state electric energy company, Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, said on a talk show that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last "for three to four days." ( ) FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2015, file photo released by the Iranian President's Office, President Hassan Rouhani visits the Bushehr nuclear power plant just outside of Bushehr, Iran. The UN's nuclear watchdog said, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, Iran continues to produce more uranium metal, which can be used in the production of a nuclear bomb, in a move that further complicates the possibility of reviving a landmark 2015 deal with world powers on its nuclear program. (AP Photo/Iranian Presidency Office, Mohammad Berno, File) Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.
"But Iran is an existential threat to Israel and the whole region is coming around to view it that way," she added.
Iran has not taken central focus at the forum, but concerns regarding Tehran’s nuclear and regional ambitions have surfaced during numerous discussions. Recent reports indicate that Iran is possibly weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon after developing enough enriched uranium.