Israel's former national security adviser says the Russian invasion of Ukraine can spark a rush to conclude the deal between Iran and world powers.

Meir Ben-Shabbat, top Benjamin Netanyahu’s aide and Chief of Staff for National Security, says with the Ukraine crisis into its fifth day, the world’s attention as well as that of Israel has been focused on Eastern Europe, which can enable Tehran “to take advantage of the global tumult in order to make progress on the nuclear program and other areas”.

In an interview with the Times of Israelin Hebrew published on Monday, he described Iran’s nuclear program as a far more direct threat to Israel’s security, expressing concerns that “it looks like they are very close” to an agreement in Vienna.

“There could be effects in both directions”, he said, noting, “On the one hand, it could get in the way of the rush toward an agreement, because of the difficulty of bringing representatives to sign the agreement during this time. On the other hand, it could lead to the mistaken conclusion that a deal must be signed quickly in order to remove this issue from the agenda and to focus on the crisis in Europe”.

Some Iranian politicians also expressed cautious optimismthat the Russian invasion of Ukraine might speed up a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.