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Ten years after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the US Congress with sharp criticism of the nuclear deal with Iran, he is repeating his warning – but this time in a much more restrained tone. Instead of fiery speeches in Washington, he made calm statements in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post writes about this.
Speaking at the JNS summit in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said: “A bad deal is worse than no deal. The only option is a deal like the one with Libya: the complete dismantling of Iran’s entire nuclear infrastructure.” He stressed that Israel had informed Washington that it would not accept anything less.
Although the rhetoric is familiar, the tone has changed: no conflict with US President Donald Trump, who, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, is cautiously optimistic about a new diplomatic agreement. “We have a president who is committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said, avoiding open criticism but still outlining a line that Israel is not ready to cross.
In the US, there is an internal struggle between diplomats and hawks. This poses an additional challenge for Netanyahu: to influence Trump without entering into conflict with him. All of this is against the backdrop of the explosion in the Iranian port, which once again reminded us of the shadow war that is going on behind the scenes of official negotiations.
