The Iranian Nuclear Deal: Will America And Israel Scuttle It?
By G. Asgar Mitha
19 July, 2015
Countercurrents.org
After 20 months of negotiations in Lausanne and 18 days of meetings in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 (US, France, UK, Russia and China and Germany), a deal was finalized on July 14, 2015 to end the Iranian weapons nuclear program and lift sanctions. It is a deal which is win-win for the US and Iran and a path towards peace but does Israel and its far right Republican cohorts want it?
The ink had not even dried when Israel and the US Republican candidates came out lashing against the deal. Republican House speaker John Boehner came out against the deal and in favor of Israel and stated "for what I know, thus far, (deal) is unacceptable". South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said the deal equals a "death sentence for the state of Israel if it does not change" and "They don't want a power plant, they want a bomb". Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum stated "In fact, nothing in this deal curbs their (Iranian) terrorism. There's nothing that says that they have to cease any type of terrorist activity." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said in a statement that he believes the deal undermines U.S. national security. These comments and more were reported on CNN http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/14/politics/2016-candidates-iran-deal/index.html
The Guardian reported on 14 July that former Florida Governor and Presidential candidate Jeb Bush tacitly compared Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain. “This isn’t diplomacy – it is appeasement” and “The people of Iran, the region, Israel, America, and the world deserve better than a deal that consolidates the grip on power of the violent revolutionary clerics who rule Tehran with an iron fist.” British Prime Minister Chamberlain (1937-1940) is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany in the hopes of averting a second world war.
What probably Netanyahu wants from the US and will likely get it is reflected in former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s (2016 Republican Presidential candidate) comment that, if elected, he would "keep all options on the table, including military force, to topple the terrorist Iranian regime and defeat the evil forces of radical Islam."
While the whole world has applauded the N-deal as a step towards peace, Netanyahu has joined the chorus of US far right Republican lawmakers from the Congress and Senate to condemn the deal and beat on the war drums. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Ukraine, Russia are not enough for the war mongers. Iran is in the way towards global domination. Next is Pakistan, another rogue Islamic country who possesses N-weapons?
According to Netanyahu "the world is a more dangerous place today than it was yesterday." He remains convinced that in due time Iran will destroy Israel. How? At one time Bibi had always maintained that Iran should not be allowed to pursue a N-weapons program but when Obama embarked upon an engagement with Iran, Bibi came to the US and cried "fowl" in the Senate in late March 2015 that ongoing negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, was an exercise that “paves Iran’s way to the bomb.” His speech was gibberish and unclear but the Senate bought it lock, stock and barrel with standing ovations. In response, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will act on bills opposed by President Barack Obama whether or not a nuclear deal is struck with Iran.
Federica Mogherini Rep. EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy praised the deal and Obama noted that "the deal is not based on trust but verification."
The US has 60 days to vet and approve or reject the deal and Iran's Supreme Leader Khameni has the final say if Iran will or will not approve the deal.
So what happens now? Will the US lawmakers reject the deal? Most likely not for by doing so, the US will alienate not only the world but most importantly the Russians and Chinese as well as their NATO allies. The US would stand exposed as the greatest threat to the world instead of Iran. If America rejects or attempts to change the deal, Iran would’ve a genuine reason to proceed with and accelerate its N-weapons program, probably acquire a bomb in 12-18 months.
What will most likely transpire is a call for a revised deal – change as suggested in the words of Lindsey Graham - by the GOP dominated Congress and Senate that would include stringent conditions on Iran such as addressing possible military dimensions, inspections of certain military sites, forcing Iran to revoke its role as a terrorist nation, demilitarization along Iraq WMD lines or committing Iran to state that it’ll never destroy the State of Israel. Certainly Iran will never accept these conditions as a sovereign nation. The revised deal could be vetoed by Obama, further negotiations rejected by EU, Russia and China or rejected by Iran. This much is certain that Israel will not permit the approval of the negotiated deal as it stands and moreover highly plausible that further negotiations could lead to an entire breakdown.
Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khameni wrote to President Rouhani and the negotiating team that the deal was “an important step.” However, he also warned that the text of the agreement “should be considered carefully” and “once ratified, be careful of possible violations of the opposing side.” and added, “You know well that some of the six opposing governments cannot be trusted.” One Iranian hardliner among many others has stated that “Iran, despite all of the efforts of the Westerners, is not on the threshold of collapsing from within, but we do not have a doubt that underneath the bowl of a final agreement there is a half non-nuclear bowl.” The article warned that a “war of civilizations” still exists and that Iranians must “tighten their belts of faith.”
In the words of David Swanson in his article AIPAC: Anti-Iranian Propaganda At Congress (http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson160715.htm) “Demanding a deal you'll never get is how wars have been started through history, including in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, not to mention the demand that Iraq hand over the WMD it didn't have. We're not falling for it again, guys.” Mr. Swanson, I hope the Americans may not fall for it but you may yet be wrong. What Israel wants it gets because it finances and rules America.
G. Asgar Mitha recently retired from working with a large oil company in Canada as a Technical Safety Engineer
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