Always a factor in the US policy toward Iran is what Israel thinks. This may be difficult to understand, because in the context of Iran and diplomacy, Israel is uniformly and consistently against it. Despite President Biden suggesting a nuclear deal was going to happen irrespective of Israel’s stance, it’s clear they still loom very large.
Faced with outspoken Israeli opposition, Secretary of State Tony Blinken met with Israeli Premier Naftali Bennett, and asked him what his “alternative” to the deal was, as far as keeping Iran from nuclear weapons capacity.
Asking Israel what their plan for Iran is seems foolhardy, since the full range of Israeli policy toward Iran is threats of war. Challenging Israel for a plan certainly is going to get an answer that’s not diplomacy.
The consideration of why this might be important has to center on the influence of the Israel Lobby, and its importance to all but one Republican Senator opposing the deal before it was even finalized.
It’s not clear if Israel is being asked to submit a full proposal for a US policy. Getting something like that allows Biden to defend promises to get “input” from allies, but risks skewing administration positions toward what Israel wants, and polluting the negotiating environment by giving the impression that this is the new US stance.
The early response at the meeting was predictable for Israel’s stance on diplomacy, as Bennett said Iran could be deterred if the US and Europe threatened to ramp up sanctions to the level placed on Russia. He also mocked the deal as a “Band-Aid” that would just give Iran billions of dollars.
Threatening more sanctions is hardly a plan, at least not a new one. With Israel’s prompting, threatening sanctions on Iran is most of what the US does in general, and suggesting that the right level of sanctions would work ignores just how many sanctions are already in place, and how the US sees sanctions as an opportunity for more sanctions.
With a real diplomatic deal to be had, approaching Israel is the last way for the US to show it is part of the diplomatic process. Instead, it sets up serious problems down the road.
The US imposes new sanctions on Iran and then asks Israel to design a new deal. Tell me again how Biden wants to rejoin the JCPOA. This is my second laugh paroxysm of the day.
Has anyone met anyone who approves of Biden? Yet the polls give him over 40%. Who are these moronic, evil madmen? I didn’t know there were so many triple threats of badness.
I have a relative who approves of every Democrat. Some more than others, but a Democrat can do no wrong, and a Republican can do no right, even if the Democrat is doing what the Republican recommended last week or vice versa.
I know a number of people like that. Unfortunately, some of them are my relatives.
My list of “approved” democrats is very short Thomas; Cory Bush leads it.
I cannot think of any current republicans on the list, though I did admire Ron Paul. Too bad his “apple” fell so far from the tree.
I used to live in the district Cori Bush now represents. Her predecessor, Lacey Clay, was sometimes reasonably good on foreign policy.
Can’t say that I find Bush especially impressive, but YMMV.
I think every politician is bought and paid for or compromised for some despicable act or inadequate for the job, and most often, all three.
I think that comes pretty close to the mistakenly thought rare trifecta of badness– mad, evil, and stupid.
It’s almost like they start at 40%.
Exactly. Like Pat Buchanan said, the Lobby always gets what it wants. But without their allies in the media boardrooms they would be nothing.
Here’s an idea: Maybe get a Foreign Secretary who does NOT have relatives in Israel. Hmm, I wonder if this affects his relationship with the hate state.
“He also mocked the deal as a “Band-Aid” that would just give Iran billions of dollars.”
Has a strange take on the word “give”. Give is what the US does with $3.8 billion of its taxpayer’s money to Israel every year. Iran would actually sell something the world needs badly to get their billions.
So in other words,Iranian oil is more valuable than than Israeli blood.
And that’s what you took from my comment? That took some serious twisting. It’s simple, Israel is a parasitic sponge while Iran just wants to have a functioning economy. How that means what you said is beyond me. I guess it’s more about the exaggerated threat that Iran poses to a country stocked with nukes and who has the congress of a superpower in their back pocket. Oh, and also the Secretary of State which even you would have a hard time denying since this article would make your argument frivolous. Similar to all the other bullshit you spout about the threat Iran poses to Israel and the world.
Iran wishes to be The main power in the region Fine..It also wants to wipe Israel off the map. According to you,since the world needs oil, we should adjust our views accordindly.
Hard to argue with logic like that. 1+1 equals Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map. Everything equals Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map.
Is Israel now selling Jewish blood on the international market?Perhaps the organs of those Israelis have killed which they remove can also be sold on the organ market too. What does Israel do with the organs of their victims that they remove?
Lol…! US in general, and Biden and Blinken Brains are out of ideas asking zionist Bennett about alternative…!
Biden, Blinken & Bennet— Billions of blistering barnacles.
Or Bunch of Brainless BureaucRats…!
Very good article by Jason Ditz.
So Israel and Ukraine are now the rulers of the world.
Israel is a criminal race-state which has since its inception caused horrible suffering to the people of the mid-east.
Consider the hidden hand of political Zionism that goes back years before it’s inception. It took a couple of major war’s and million’s of live’s before it could even become a reality. Without the Holocaust narrative,Israel could not exist.
Yes, our lifetime’s witness of Zionist praxis impels the re-examination of modern European history with that in mind.
Zionism had virtually no effect on modern European history,just a sidebar.
Thank you Robert. No matter how much it’s buried truth can not be hidden forever. It will always surface through time.
Israel caused no major wars-what on earth are you talking about?
Of course you Zionist never ever do anything wrong and every thing said about you is a lie. One thing is certain money can’t buy you love.
What “hidden hand” are you referring to? Whether one approves of it or not, Zionists never seem to have been especially secretive about their program.
The hand of political Zionism. Fixed it.
Every body has to eat.Get used to it.
Exactly Robert. IsraHell is a parasite that wouldn’t exist without Amerikkkan taxpayer dollars.
And our congresswhores are to blame.
It is some of the followers of the Judean who raped the middle east.
It is your logic which justifies a strong and free Israel.
True, and poor Ukraine has been enticed/bribed/forced by the IMF to be the destroyer of Russia. No success, but lots of damage.
Israelis are too dense to see Iran as downwind from them.
That is a pathetic bit of butt kissing
Does Amerikkka foment ANY policy without Israhell’s approval?
And just who is “giving” one damned thing to Iran?
Iran is the oldest existing nation in the world. Leave them the f*** alone. And if Israhell can have nukes, I say to Iran: go ahead and develop them for yourselves. What a great deterrent against the Zionazi quasi-nation.
After a year of negotiations it’s back to the drawing board for Blinken, while slapping new sanctions on Iran who should end this JCPOA fiasco. The whole thing could be torn up when Sleepy Joe gets booted, for one thing.
Nobody’s happy with it, really, and it violates Iran’s sovereignty, a UN-declared quality which is gaining attention from Russia and China.
And having Russia as a partner in the negotiations isn’t directly great for PR given how unbalanced Putin is. And if he dies soon, will Russia keep up their end of the deal?