Jerusalem: 'Obama Wants a Bad Deal with Iran' - Gil Ronen

by Gil Ronen

The US President is simply 'determined to reach a bad deal with Iran,' says senior diplomatic sources in Jerusalem.

Dr. Dore Gold

Flash 90

 

“US President Barack Obama is determined to reach a bad deal with Iran,” senior diplomatic sources in Jerusalem told Israel Hayom – a newspaper considered close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

"It appears that the agreement with Iran will will be signed, because the American president is interested in the agreement,” the sources said.

The accusation is a harsh one, and appears to imply that Obama is purposely working toward a deal that will endanger Israel and the West.

Dore Gold, who was appointed last week as the director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, recently penned columns in Israel Hayom that were critical of the talks between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program. In a column published last month Gold wrote that "there has been a whole school of thought in Washington that firmly believed that the US was the main source of Middle Eastern tensions and not Iran." A month earlier, Gold warned that "Iran is clearly exploiting its nuclear talks with the West to establish its hegemonic position and erect a new regional order from Yemen to Kurdistan."

Meanwhile, Obama told Israel's Channel 2 that a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would not dismantle the Islamic Republic's program; the only way to ensure Tehran doesn't acquire nuclear weapons, he asserted, is a diplomatic deal.

"I can I think demonstrate, not based on any hope but on facts and evidence and analysis that the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a verifiable tough agreement."

"A military solution will not fix it. Even if the United States will participate, it would temporarily slow down an Iranian nuclear program, but it will not eliminate it," Obama told journalist Ilana Dayan.

Asked if he was concerned Israel might strike Iran's nuclear facilities without telling the US beforehand, Obama responded, "I won't speculate on that."

"What I can say to the Israeli people is I understand your concerns and I understand your fears," he added. 

Obama has made repeated efforts to assuage Israeli opposition and concern since a framework deal with Iran was reached on April 2.


Gil Ronen

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/196159#.VW2MXEazd-8

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