Israel's Netanyahu Owes Kerry on Iran

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright November 11, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                      

            Working feverishly to gain concessions on Iran’s nuclear program, 69-year-old Secretary of State John Kerry has gone further than expected.  While there’s plenty to criticize, the U.S. has led the way to improving relations between the U.S. and Iran, after nearly 35 years of broken diplomatic relations.  Whether admitted to or not by Western powers, Iran—with all its problems—represents the most stable regime in the Middle East, besides Israel.  Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution ejected Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, returning exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei to power, the U.S. had strong historic ties to Iran.  Tehran was home to the Mideast’s largest thriving Jewish community, many of whom have moved to the Westside of Los Angeles.  “No deal is better than a bad deal,” insists 64-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerned about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

             Netanyahu continues to lobby for the punitive U.N. sanction routine that paralyzes Iran’s economy.  Based on off-the-wall comments by former hothead Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu insists, without proof, that Iran’s nuclear program is an “existential” threat to Israel.  Netanyahu’s assumptions are based on Ahmadinejad’s incendiary comments about “wiping Israel off the map,” something done routinely by Arab countries—especially Palestinians—for years.  While Netanyahu overreacts to Ahmadinejad’s past remarks, the P5+1, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council including, U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China plus Germany, have worked tirelessly to retrain Iran’s nuclear program.  Israel’s security isn’t based on Netanyahu’s go-it-alone attitude but rather working with the Security Council to get the best possible deal.

                Signing onto a new accord to allow U.N. inspectors back in certain nuclear sites, Iran’s new 65-year-old President Hassan Rouhani has bent over backwards, with his job on the line, to accommodate P5+1 to get a workable deal to end punitive U.N. economic sanctions.  Once Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Rouhani knows Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s firm belief in Iran’s right under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium for “peaceful purposes.”  When Pakistan defied the U.N. Security Council and got the bomb May 28, 1998 with the help of nuclear engineer A.Q. Khan, the P5+1 shouted the same objections as today with Iran.  Thirteen years later, Pakistan hasn’t menaced its archrival India with threats of nuclear holocaust.  In the worst case scenario, where Iran eventually gets the bomb, it means little about Israel’s continued existence.

               Threatening unilateral strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities does little to help the P5+1 to win concessions on Iran’s nuclear program.  Netanyahu needs to get with the program and allow Kerry to work toward normalizing relations with Tehran.  Home of the world’s largest ex-patriot Persian community, the U.S. has more reason to normalize relations than any other country.  If Netanyahu looks factually at Iran’s war-mongering over the last 100 years, he’ll find a country that has a long history of alien invasions, not the other way around.  Iran has been the victim of foreign invasions over its 3,000-year history more than encroaching on other lands.  Kerry’s recent inroads with his counterpart, 52-year-old U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, has tamped down expectations of military intervention.  Netanyahu should praise Kerry’s work not threaten war.

             Netanyahu’s stubborn belief that former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks for current Iranian leadership is completely unfounded.  No one in the current Iranian regime, including Iran’s Supreme Religious leader Khamenei, want anything other than improved relations.  Promising to “cooperate further . . . to resolve all present and past issues,” Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Al Akbar Salehi and Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Yukia Amano vowed to resolve remaining nuclear issues.  Netanyahu should jump for joy, not complain or hint at unilateral action.  Whatever areas of Iran’s uranium enrichment remain off limits, committing to the process opens doors for progress.  Ending the sanctions and avoiding military conflict is the U.N.’s top priority.  Netanyahu must acknowledge the constructive dialogue not whine about what’s not perfect.

             Kerry needs to reassure Netanyahu that normalizing relations with Iran allays Israel’s concerns over any nuclear threat.  Since the end of WW II, where the U.S. unloaded his nuclear arsenal on Japan, no nuclear-armed country has engaged in nuclear aggression.  All nuclear armed-countries understand Mutual Assured Destruction, holding nuclear powers at bay, especially the U.S. and Russia.  Armed with bigger atomic arsenals than any other countries, the U.S. and Russia have been forced since the Cold War to resolve differences diplomatically.  While most Sunni-dominated Gulf States—especially Saudi Arabia—want to keep the Arab world free of nuclear weapons, they also know that Israel has held atomic weapons since the 1950s.  Whatever happens with Iran’s nuclear program, Israel is far better off letting the U.S. lead the P5+1 to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.