SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 28 March 2024, Thursday |

Netanyahu vows to fight efforts to revive nuclear deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would work strongly and publicly at the international level against the return to the nuclear agreement, and unlike the last government’s behind-the-scenes approach, he intends to apply public pressure.

 

“Unfortunately, contrary to the popular opinion that this dangerous nuclear agreement has been scrapped, despite the recent events in Iran, I think this possibility has not yet been definitively removed from the [global] agenda,” Netanyahu said ahead of his first cabinet session.

 

He indicated that Israel would work harder to prevent Iranian-military establishment in Syria and elsewhere, pledging to boost Israeli ties with Arab countries.

 

Netanyahu also pledged to normalize ties with “additional Arab countries in the region.”

 

Notably, Netanyahu did not reach an understanding with his army and intelligence chiefs regarding Iran, and he was at odds during his former terms.

 

However, internal research on military intelligence in the Israeli army indicates that there is a convergence in the position between them.

 

Netanyahu believed carrying out military operations against the Iranian nuclear weapons was essential.

 

The intelligence services, like the rest of the security services, thought that such an operation needed a true US partnership and reaching an understanding between Tel Aviv and Washington.

 

However, they believed that current diplomatic action has failed.

 

Military intelligence research revealed that the Iranian leadership received a fatal blow in the past two years after the US assassinated the commander of the al-Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Qassem Soleimani.

 

According to Israeli estimates, Soleimani’s successor, Ismail Qaani, failed to protect and preserve his predecessor’s regional expansion project.

 

Furthermore, the economic sanctions had dangerous repercussions on people’s lives, and the ongoing wave of protests since September, which the country hasn’t witnessed anything like since the 1979 revolution.

 

Iran has been witnessing ongoing protests in its 31 governorates on an almost daily basis.

 

According to Israeli research, the Iranian regime is still strong despite the severe blows. However, based on past experiences, when the regime senses it was in danger, it resorts to making deals similar to what happened in 1988 in Iraq.

 

In 2003, the US entered Afghanistan and Iraq, and former President George W. Bush declared that the next stop would be in Iran, so they decided to stop their nuclear project.

 

Israeli security officials believe that Israel must convince the West of the need to issue a real military threat so that Iran stops its nuclear project and accepts the West’s conditions.

 

They believe that Iran’s support for Russia in its military operations in Ukraine leaves no room for the West to continue in their policy. They should reactivate all sanctions and issue a threat of war.

    Source:
  • Asharq Al-Awsat