As the Biden administration pushes to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, a request by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Laid for an emergency phone consultation was rebuffed by the White House because the president is still on a two-week vacation. The White House sources assured that the talk would be arranged eventually.
Lapid is displeased with the imminent agreement. In a briefing to foreign reporters on Wednesday, Lapid claimed that the deal, as it stood, did not even meet Biden’s minimum requirements.
“In our eyes, it does not meet the standards set by President Biden himself: preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state,” Lapid said. “The countries of the West draw a red line, the Iranians ignore it, and the red line moves.”
“On the table right now is a bad deal. It would give Iran $100 billion a year that will be used to undermine stability in the Middle East and spread terror around the globe.” ” Lapid told the journalists, adding that it could also be used to fund used to fund “people who are trying to kill authors and thinkers in New York,”
“This money will fund the Revolutionary Guards. It will fund the Basij who oppress the Iranian people. It will fund more attacks on American bases in the Middle East. It will be used to strengthen Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad,” he charged, naming Iran-backed terror groups.
“Israel is not against any agreement. We are against this agreement, because it is a bad one,” he said.
“We have an open dialogue with the American administration on all matters of disagreement,” Lapid claimed. “I appreciate their willingness to listen and work together: the United States is and will remain our closest ally, and President Biden is one of the best friends Israel has ever known,” he said.
The report in Channel 13 news also claimed that when Defense Minister Benny Gantz arrives in Washington on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be unavailable to speak with him. In the US, Gantz will hold a series of meetings at CENTCOM headquarters in Florida and meet with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington.
