The U.S. has reportedly weighed in on the latest proposal to revive an international nuclear deal with Iran. Israel’s prime minister has slammed the pact as it appears to be taking shape, saying it won’t stop Iran from becoming a nuclear state, and he warned that Israel will act to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon.
Israel has launched an all-out public relations effort to try to stop the emerging nuclear deal with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid sharply attacked the deal being negotiated, saying Iran has manipulated the talks.
“On the table right now is a bad deal,” he said. “It would give Iran $100 billion a year. This money will not build schools or hospitals. This is a $100 billion dollars a year that will be used to undermine stability in the Middle East and will spread terror around the globe.”
He said the money would be used to fund more attacks on American bases in the Middle East, as well as to strengthen Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
He also said that any deal signed does not constrain Israel, and that Israel will prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state.
It seems unlikely that Israeli suspicions will change President Joe Biden’s opinion of the merits of the deal. That is partly due to Israel’s encouragement of former President Donald Trump’s pullout of the previous nuclear deal in 2018. Experts say today, Iran is closer to a nuclear bomb than it has ever been.
Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for peaceful, energy purposes only.
Israeli officials say they know that their position may cause tensions with the U.S.
“In the past we had tension, and I think it’s legitimate among allies to not agree about everything, and I think it’s our duty to raise our concerns about the agreement and if we believe it’s a bad agreement for us, we should say it publicly,” said Danny Danon, former Israeli ambassador to the U.N.
For years, Israel has reportedly been behind the assassination of nuclear scientists in Iran, and Israel and Iran have conducted an intensive cyberwar against each other. Former Israeli intelligence official Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser said Israel must do whatever is necessary to stop Iran.
“What I am worried is that Israel will have to work by itself against the Iranian nuclear project and doing that right now when the Americans are committed to protect the Iranian nuclear project and make sure nothing happens to it,” he said. “If we are going to do anything, and we are probably going to do things clandestinely, it’s going to cause tension between us and the Americans.”
Kuperwasser says Israel might even have to conduct a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program, a move that would have broad impact throughout the Middle East and beyond.
