DM: Israel Expects Significant US ‘Compensation’ After Iran Pact

Talks on Extra US Money for Iran Deal to Begin in Several Months

The latest in a long line of Israeli officials railing about the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon talked up the idea that it posed a major threat to Israel, and meant the nation has to prepare a military option against Iran, as though Israel hasn’t been doing that for decades.

More importantly, Ya’alon become the first Israeli official to publicly talk about the actual end-game in all of this for Israel, a massive “compensation” package by the US government to Israel to placate them after the Iran deal.

It’s been widely reported in Israeli media since mid-May that this was going to happen, and the day of the deal’s announcement, President Obama is said to have tried to engage Netanyahu on the phone about coming to a specific price on the payoff, something Netanyahu spurned at the time.

Ya’alon indicated that Israel can’t engage in talks about the deal yet because they need to “study” the situation with Iran and calculate how much extra money they need to prepare a war against Iran in the future. He suggested the talks would resume in “several months.”

The talks before the deal reportedly had the figure around $3.6-$3.7 billion, and officials say they expect that figure to grow when the talks resume. The Netanyahu government is gambling on the idea that more intense lobbying against the deal will eventually for the US to up the offer.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.