Israel DM: Iran’s Proxies Must Be an Issue at Nuclear Talks

Tries to link Iran talks to Yemen's Houthis

Israeli officials had tried to argue that they don’t really oppose the Vienna nuclear talks with Iran, but today’s comments from Defense Minister Benny Gantz show that the goal is, as ever, to prevent diplomatic progress.

Gantz blamed Iran for the “terror attack on the United Arab Emirates” earlier this week, a missile strike by Yemen’s Houthi movement, a Shi’ite group and therefore often tied to Iran, even if the depth of their actual relationship isn’t entirely clear.

Gantz called for the Vienna talks to take into account the actions of Iranian proxies in addition to the nuclear talks. In practice this is a chance to vilify Iran for a myriad of regional issues, and to divert attention away from the important nuclear negotiations.

The Israeli Prime Minister Office issued a statement saying the goal is to “hit the Iranian regime and its emissaries in the region.” Israeli officials already made clear their hostility toward Iran would remain with or without a nuclear deal, and even though they insisted that the nuclear talks have nothing to do with them, they still want to dictate the terms of those talks.

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.