After carefully studying the agreement between six world powers and Iran to prevent the development of an Iranian nuclear weapon, I have concluded that the nuclear threat to Israel as a result of the deal will be significantly lower for the coming years than it is today.
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“Americans seek to make an excuse to infiltrate Iran through a [nuclear] deal whose fate and whether it will be rejected or approved is not yet certain either in Iran or the US“, he was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Wexler is a proponent of the current nuclear arms agreement with Iran.
A number of European countries have already expressed significant interest in investing in Iranian oil and import/export markets, even though the nuclear agreement has not yet been implemented and sanctions remain in place for the time being. But the Israeli political leadership is united in their opposition, but they really didn’t have a viable alternative. Nuclear weapons are inherently scary and therefore useful for that sort of thing, even when they are nonexistent.
Now it appears that the calculation about being able to agitate without bringing about an agreement on the nuclear issue, though not insane, was mistaken. Iranian Major General Qassim Soleimani recently visited Russia in late July and is thought to have met with Russian officials about the ongoing war in Syria. Negotiators from the P5+1 countries (the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany) have exercised tough, principled diplomacy to get this far, but they recognize that it will take rigorous inspections to ensure that Iran remains in compliance. Iran remains in a position of strength due to the poor negotiating ability of both President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.
The president could suspend some U.S. sanctions. Because of the tendency of people to come to believe their own rhetoric when it is repeated enough, this misbelief probably had become entrenched in Israeli government circles. The administration says renegotiating the agreement is a nonstarter.
Washington Post: Mega-donors opposing Iran deal have upper hand in fierce lobbying battle – “On one side of the fight are Sheldon Adelson, Paul Singer and Haim Saban, whose foundations have given a total of $13 million since 2010 to advocacy groups battling the Iran nuclear deal in Congress. And on the other are George Soros and a smattering of smaller donors”. Not surprisingly, the benefits of the agreement and the widespread support it has around the world, including from the Arab states, is overlooked.
Throughout my residency in New York, I have supported U.S. Sen.
Barrett said the fact that “hundreds of rabbis tell us the exact opposite” of Israel’s stance on the nuclear agreement “shows that this is not a kind of unanimous movement by American Jews to try to destroy this breakthrough agreement with Iran”.
But this entire episode may, over the longer term and in combination with other concerns and controversies, at least marginally weaken the edifice that is the unusual U.S.-Israeli relationship.
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The Jewish community is split over whether to back the landmark accord.
