US Envoy: Israel Not Restricted in Acting Against Iran With Or Without Deal

Ambassador echoes repeated Israeli statements on possible deal

While a deal may or may not materialize, the reaching of an Iran nuclear deal is still expected. Once the deal is in place in good standing, one would think that people would stop fussing about Iran, and threatening to attack them.

Of course, that ignores the reality that Israel is keen to threaten Iran at regular intervals, and the Bennett government has time and again said that the nuclear deal, which they oppose, won’t alter their policy.

Interestingly, US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides echoed Israel’s position in an interview today, saying Israel is not restricted by any deal the US makes with Iran, and that Israel will be free to take whatever actions they feel the need to take.

This is the Israeli position, and it’s not that weird for the US to echo that, especially on Israel TV, but it’s not clear that’s actually how it’s going to work. If a nuclear deal is reached, Israel would be under a lot of pressure to not directly undermine it. An Israeli attack on Iran would face huge international backlash, even if the US as such didn’t object.

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.