President Donald Trump is pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran, hoping to end the threat of Iran becoming a nuclear power. Supporters of Israel are worried, because the Trump negotiating team has, thus far, made similar moves to those that President Barack Obama made — moves that were later seen as catastrophic mistakes. Trump is betting that he can succeed where Obama failed. But there are several worrying signs .One is that the Trump administration appears, like the Obama administration, to have leaked sensitive details of Israeli plans to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.
Obama’s goal in 2012 was to stop Israel from doing anything to jeopardize a grand bargain with the Iranian regime. Trump’s goal in a similar leak this week to the New York Times appears to have been to pressure Iran, but Israel is, nonetheless, reportedly dismayed. Another mistake is to suggest that Iran will merely have to stop enriching uranium — not to destroy its nuclear program, or come clean about past violations of international nuclear agreements. That is the same formula that Obama used, and it failed to deter the regime.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff later clarified that Iran would, in fact, have to “eliminate” its program — but stopped well short of demanding full transparency. A third repeated mistake is to weaken Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has not tried to humiliate Bibi, as Obama did; or to oust him, as Biden did. However, bringing the Israeli leader to the White House earlier this month, only to surprise him with a public announcement of direct talks between the U.S. and Iran, hurt Netanyahu domestically and made him less threatening to Iran, albeit perhaps unintentionally. (Read More)
