Netanyahu: Nuclear Deal Fight Over, Crack Down on ‘Subversive’ Iran

Also Wants Obama to Follow Through on Promised Aid Hikes

In weekend comments to Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conceded that his battle to try to block the Iranian nuclear deal is over, and now his focus is shifting toward cracking down Iran for a whole different reason, citing their “subversion” in the region.

To that end, Netanyahu wants more “active” US action against Iran, and in particular a massive increase in the already enormous military budget, saying it is time for President Obama to follow through on pledges of commitment to Israeli security.

That’s a conversation that’s been coming for awhile, with talk since July that the US was going to pay off Israel, to the tune of several billion dollars, for acquiescing on the nuclear deal. Even though Israel never did acquiesce, and simply lost the lobbying battle, the talks began in mid-September.

Netanyahu will be meeting with President Obama in November, and most of the indications are that officials hope to have the package all ready to be finalized and announced for that visit. In addition to this one-off round of billions in additional aid, the US is also planning to dramatically increase the amount of annual aid to Israel, a plan that was already being discussed before the Iran deal.

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.