One day before speaking to the U.N. General Assembly for the first time, 71-year-old President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has great skepticism over former President Barack Obama Iranian Nuke Deal, concluded April 2, 2015 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Netanyahu, over Obama’s objections, spoke to a joint session of Congress March 3, 2015, warning lawmakers that Iran would not live up to the bargain. Signed by the P5+1 [U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany] July 15, 2015, Iran agreed to suspend its nuclear enrichment program, producing weapons grade uranium, suspected of working on an A-bomb. In exchange for suspending its nuke program, Iran received billions of dollars in sanctions relief and money previously owed to the regime. Trump thought Obama bribed Iran to sign the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Watching the Obama administration deliver $1.7 billion in cash, and some $150 billion in frozen Iranian assets irks Trump to this day, especially because Iran hasn’t lived up to its promise to allow the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] unfettered access to all Iranian nuke sites. Iran’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPA] never included Iran’s secretive military sites, especially the one at Parhin some 30 miles southeast of Tehran. Meeting with Netanyahu today, Trump takes a new look at Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal, especially given Iran’s threats against Israel. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised dire consequences if Trump cancels or modifies the July 15, 2015 agreement. Insisting Iran would not be “bullied” by the U.S., Khamenei warned that any “wrong move” would be met with a strong reaction.
U.S. officials reviewing Iranian compliance with the JCPA know that U.N. inspectors have had no access to Iran’s highly sensitive military sites. Under pressure in October to certify compliance with the JCPA, Trump must decide whether Iran has complied with the agreement. “And any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the [nuclear accord] will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic. Trump’s got more concerns with Iran beyond the 2015 nuke deal, watching Iran intervene with the Russians in Syria, supplying arms-and-cash to the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu sees Iran’s expanding influence in the Middle East, especially in Syria where they’ve joined Russia to back the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Warning Netanyahu about his upcoming U.N. speech, Major. Gen. Abdolarhaim Mousavi threatened to lay Tel Aviv to waste.
Speaking Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu plans to appeal to Arab Gulf State to contain Iranian influence. With Netanyahu endorsing an independent Kurdish state in Iraq, Iran continues to lash out at Israel. Iran considers the Kurds an unwanted nuisance, banishing them to the hinterlands, giving little state support. Netanyahu knows that Iran supports Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Hamas’s military wing al-Qassam brigades, supplying both groups arms-and-cash to battle Israel. With Hamas busy reconciling with West Bank-based Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], they’re in no mood for another war with Israel. Yet Iran pushes both Hamas and Hezbollah to start a two-front war, Hamas from the South, Hezbollah for the North, to annihilate Israel. Iran’s Supreme Leader knows that working to eliminate Israel makes Iran a U.S. enemy.
Arab Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates, have started to warm to Israel, knowing it stands against Iranian influence. What’s ironic, Bahrain, a majority Shiite country like Iran, opposes past Arab boycotts of Israel. Mideast countries have come to realize that there’s far more to gain trading with Israel than to continue old hatreds based on Israeli-Palestinian issues. Arab Gulf States have grown weary of Palestinian’s self-destructive wars with Israel, expecting Arab states to bail out Hamas and the PLO. With Netanyahu backing an independent Kurdistan, Iran’s fit-to-be-tied watching Israel make inroads in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has accused Iran of meddling in Yemen, where Iranian-backed Houthis continue to wreak havoc in the area. Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf States want less interference from Iran.
Saudi Arabia has a particular beef with Iran, whose Hezbollah militia and al-Quds forces have helped defeat a determined Saudi proxy war to topple Syrian president Bashar-al Assad. Saudi Arabia, a key sponsor of the 2011 Arab Spring, has spent billions supplying arms-and-cash to opposition groups seeking to topple al-Assad. Seeking closer ties to Israel is the Gulf State’s way of countering growing Iranian influence. “We today, with the help of the great Lord, full of self-confidence and power, are ready to defend the ideals and values of the Islamic Revolution everywhere and at any level,” said Mosusavi, warning Trump and Netanyahu to stand down at the U.N. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammed Javid Zarif, who negotiated the 2015 Nuke Deal with former Secretary of State John Kerry, plans to deliver the Ayatollah’s message to not mess with the Islamic Republic.
