The Obama administration is standing on the opposite side of Israel on Iran. Illustrative. US Secretary of State Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of US State Department.
The Obama Administration displayed full confidence that the Iran nuclear deal would survive a vote by the US legislature by celebrating their victory early, before a vote has even been held. US Secretary of State John Kerry, in comments with US Senator Dick Durbin released by the State Department on Wednesday, promoted the support of 42 Democrat senators for the controversial deal. That number is high enough to prevent opponents from creating the super-majority in the 100-member US Senate that is needed to override the deal.
The Iran deal has plenty of opponents, including members of Obama’s own Democrat party. However, it appears that that won’t matter in the end. While its theoretically possible that things could change in an actual vote, Kerry celebrated the public support from the 42 senators in one of those rare situations in which getting less than half the vote is still good enough. But that doesn’t make the deal a good one for Israel.
In comments released by his office on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again warned that Iran’s leadership isn’t proving themselves trustworthy. Highlighting recent words from Ayatollah Khamenei, Netanyahu said the Iranian Supreme Leader “has best online pharmacy for klonopin made it clear that the US is the Great Satan and that Iran intends to destroy the State of Israel.”
While Netanyahu said Israel is strong and that the Iranian dream won’t happen, nonetheless “the conclusion that arises from the remarks of the tyrant in Tehran is that all responsible countries must cooperate in order to stop Iran’s terrorism and aggression which, to my regret, will only increase as a result of the agreement.”
Netanyahu isn’t the only one critiquing the deal. The top Democrat Senator in the Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, released an op-ed in The Washington Post that outlined his own concerns.
Not the least of those is that the deal “legitimizes” Iran’s nuclear program and would enable them after restrictions are lifted in 10-15 years “the option to produce enough enriched fuel for a nuclear weapon in a short time.”
Senator Cardin noted in the op-ed that the agreement calls for implementation based on “mutual respect,” but argued there’s no respect for Iran, which “actively foments regional instability, advocates for Israel’s destruction, kills the innocent and shouts ‘Death to America.’”
Despite Cardin’s view, 42 other members of his party are backing the Iran deal and so the Obama administration is celebrating a bit prematurely. It remains to be seen if the support given to the deal was premature as well.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastudpate.com, September 9, 2015)