Signaling that the Biden administration has shifted gears from the past Obama White House, 67-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Israel, sending a strong message about unwavering U.S. support. Former President Barack Obama had a tense relationship with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who opposed the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] AKA the “Iranian Nuke Deal.”. Netanyahu spoke to a joint session of Congress March 3, 2015, warning elected officials about entering into an agreement with Iran. Netanayhu opposed the deal primarily because he didn’t trust Iran to follow through with reducing uranium enrichment, a key provision of the deal, requiring verification by Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors. Turned out, the Iran kept inspectors away from Iran’s sensitive military enrichment sites.

Now the Biden White House wants to re-engage with Tehran, after 74-year-old former President Donald Trump cancelled May 8, 2018 U.S. involvement in the JCPOA. Trump not only found the deal has no measure for verification, it gave Iran billions in cash to go on a terrorism binge in the Middle East. Shortly before Obama inked the deal, Iran began it’s proxy war March 25, 2015 against Saudi Arabia, resulting in constant ballistic missile strikes against the Kingdom, eventually leading to the attack on Aramco’s biggest oil refinery Sept. 14, 2019, with Iranian-backed Houthi attacks happening April 11, hitting the Aramaco facility with another drone strike. Whatever deal, if any, Biden strikes with Iran, it can’t ignore Iran’s ongoing proxy war using Yemen’s Houthi rebels to strike Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu wants Austin to know Israel’s reservations about any new deal.

Meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Beni Gantz today in Tel Aviv, Austin confirmed the U.S. “iron clad” commitment to Israel’s defense. While not mentioning Iran, it’s on everyone’s mind in Tel Aviv, since it dominates the headlines. Iran wants an immediate and unconditional removal of all U.S. sanctions before it sits at a table with the U.S. “The Tehran of today presents a strategic threat to international security, the entire Middle East and to the state of Israel,” Gantz said. “We will work closely with our American allies to ensure that any new agreement with Iran will secure the vital interests of the world and of the United States, prevent a dangerous arms race in our region and protect the state of Israel,” said Gantz. Back on 2015, Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry ignored Israel’s concerns, watching Iran run amok with state-sponsored terrorism in the Mideast.

Sending Austin to Tel Aviv signaled that things could be different this time around, hearing Israel’s concerns about any new nuke deal with Iran. Iran wants everything without giving up its proxy war with Saudi Arabia. Iran’s attacks on the Kingdom have disrupted the flow of refined products from the Red Sea, causing the world’s current run up in crude oil prices. “They want to show that they did come here with clean hands and they want to listen,” said Yoel Guzansky, senior fellow at Institute for national Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. “They want to listen to Israel’s worries and perhaps other partners’ worries about the negotiation about Iran,” hoping to get the White House listening this time to its Number One Mideast ally. When Obama marched ahead in 2015 with the JCPOA, there was little consideration of how Israel thought it would affect its national security.

As former head of U.S. Central Command, Austin seems more versed in Mideast security, listening carefully to Israel’s concerns about rushing to sign back onto the JCPOA. Netanyahu, who faces piecing a coalition government together, has great concerns about any new nuke deal with Iran. Netanyahu backed Trump’s decision wholeheartedly to cancel the JCPOA because of Iran’s failure to comply. “History has taught us that deals like this, with extremist regimes like this, are worth nothing,” Netanyahu said last week. Biden has found out quickly that multilateral approaches only go so far, with Brussels-based EU having its own priorities. Biden and Blinken have found out the hard way what happens when you alienate Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, both of whom have been subject to relentless White House attacks.

Lloyd meets with Israel while Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif said Israel will pay for its suspected cyber attack on Iran’s secret Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Natanz experienced a blackout yesterday when an unknown software failure caused an electrical failure at a local power plant, supplying electricity to Natanz. Jewish Institute of National Security [JINSA] expressed concerns that U.S. problems with Russia and China would eclipse important U.S. commitments to Mideast security. “With reduced defensive capabilities and perceived American retrenchment from the region, Tehran and its proxies will only be incentivized to pursue even more dangerous actions to detabilize its neighbors,” JINSA wrote. Lloyd heard a strong appeal from Gantz that Israel does not trust any deal with Iran that cannot be verified by IAEA inspectors, a clear failure of the JCPOA.