Foreign Policy

Israeli security experts support the P5+1 world powers nuclear deal with Iran

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Many in the American media, like the Tea-Publican Party, would have you believe that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu speaks with one voice for all Israelis, neh, for all Jews in the world. This is absurd on its face.

There are a number of Israeli national security experts who have voiced support for the P5+1 world powers nuclear agreement with Iran. The American media allows Netanyahu and Republican critics in Congress to drown them out.

Think Progress reported Former Israeli Security Heads Support Iran Deal:

Iran-nuclear-deal-1024x576[W]hile Israel’s prime minister continues to fight the deal a collection of former Israeli security figures have come forward to say that things could be much worse.

“No agreement is ironclad, but the inspections provisions provide a high degree of confidence that Iran will not be able to renew the nuclear program without its being detected,” Chuck Freilich, a former deputy National Security Adviser in Israel, wrote in a New York Times op-ed published on Sunday and entitled A Good Deal for Israel. “A regime that has staked so much on this agreement will be reluctant to incur the costs.”

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John Kerry and Ernest Moniz: The case for the nuclear deal with Iran

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Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a nuclear expert, published this op-ed in the Washington Post today, The case for the Iran deal:

Iran-nuclear-deal-1024x576When President Obama took office, he faced an Iran that had mastered the nuclear fuel cycle, had constructed a covert uranium enrichment facility inside a mountain, was on its way to installing nearly 20,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, was developing advanced centrifuges and was building a heavy-water reactor that could produce weapons-grade plutonium. If Iran wanted to develop a nuclear weapon, it was already well down that road and the international community had little insight into its program. Against this backdrop the president vowed never to let Iran obtain a nuclear weapon.

The deal reached in Vienna this month is not only the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon, it is the only durable and viable option for achieving this goal. This comprehensive diplomatic resolution has the unified support of the world’s leading powers. It extends the time Iran would need to develop a nuclear weapon, provides strong verification measures that give us ample time to respond if Iran chooses that path, and takes none of our options off the table.

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Republicans seek to undermine U.S. foreign policy towards Iran

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Iran-nuclear-deal-1024x576Neocons in the Republican Party, who reflexively oppose any agreement between Iran and the West, share something in common with the Islamic hard-liners in Iran. Iranian Hard-Liners Say Nuclear Accord Crosses Their Red Lines.

Their common interest was exemplified earlier this year with Sen. “Tehran” Tom Cotton’s letter signed by 47 Republican senators to the government of Iran. 47 GOP Senators Tell Iran They May Not Honor A Nuclear Deal. This stunt was too much even for the editors of The Arizona Republican. 47 senators stomp on the Constitution.

The government of Israel also opposes the Iran deal. Earlier this year, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an offer from House Speaker John Boehner to address the Congress shortly before elections In Israel, an unprecedented move not approved by the White House and against U.S. protocol. See Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institute, At What Price, Netanyahu?

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U.S. and Cuba Embassies reopen

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The New York Times reports today that the U.S. Embassy in Cuba Reopens After More Than 50 Years:

us-cuba_relations_300x225_1After more than a half-century defined by mistrust and rancor, the United States officially reopened its six-story embassy in the Cuban capital on Monday, the culmination of many months of negotiations to overcome decades of historical enmity and to restore diplomatic relations between the two nations.

More than two years of effort went into restoring relations between Cuba and the United States, both public and private, yet most observers say they believe it will be many more years before mutual wariness fades.

Re-establishing diplomatic relations does not resolve a host of issues for further negotiations.

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U.N. Security Council unanimously approves P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran

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Iran-nuclear-deal-1024x576British Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday that the world “would face Iran with a nuclear weapon” if six powers, including the U.S., had not struck a historic nuclear deal with Tehran. “I think it is so much better than the alternative. I think that if there wasn’t a deal, I think we would face Iran with a nuclear weapon,” Cameron said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” British Prime Minister David Cameron: Iran Deal ‘Better Than the Alternative’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has hailed the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers as “an important success.” Germany’s Merkel calls for speedy implementation of Iran deal.

This morning the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, of which the “P5” powers — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China — are permanent members, unanimously approved the P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran. UN Security Council endorses Iran deal.

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