Israeli team heading to US to try to shape final nuclear pact

Iran was on the ropes begging for a deal. Obama rescued her from defeat saying that the interim deal avoids war. Who believes this shit? How can Netanyahu trust Obama to make a deal with Iran acceptable to Israel. H e had that chance and blew it. Ted Belman

TOI

“I spoke last night with President [Barack] Obama. We agreed that in the coming days an Israeli team led by the national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, will go out to discuss with the United States the permanent accord with Iran,” Netanyahu told members of his Likud party.

The two heads of state on Sunday evening discussed the deal reached by the P5+1 states and Iran, less than 24 hours after the agreement was signed.

The prime minister reacted to the news of the interim deal between world powers and Tehran by calling it a “historic mistake.” In their phone conversation, initiated by Obama, Netanyahu asked the president — who kept Israel in the dark for months about the back-channel US-Iran negotiations that helped shape the deal — to begin US-Israel consultations on the permanent deal right away, and Obama consented, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. Hence the dispatch of Yossi Cohen.

On Monday, Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to keeping Iran from acquiring a bomb but started to shift his focus from the interim deal to the intended permanent one, saying, “This accord must bring about one outcome: the dismantling of Iran’s military nuclear capability.”

“I would be happy if I could join those voices around the world that are praising the Geneva agreement,” Netanyahu remarked. “It is true that the international pressure which we applied was partly successful and has led to a better result than what was originally planned. But this is still a bad deal. It reduces pressure on Iran without receiving anything tangible in return. And the Iranians who laughed all the way to the bank are themselves saying that this deal has saved them.”

The six-month pact signed early Sunday rolls back some sanctions on Iran in return for limits on nuclear enrichment, the shuttering of certain sites and an agreement by Tehran to allow some international oversight.

The White House on Sunday said that Netanyahu and Obama “reaffirmed their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” and Obama told Netanyahu that he wants the two sides “to begin consultations immediately regarding our efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution.”

Obama also asked Netanyahu not to lobby allies in Congress to push legislation for more sanctions on Iran, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported.

“The President underscored that the United States will remain firm in our commitment to Israel, which has good reason to be skeptical about Iran’s intentions,” US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro wrote on Facebook.

“Consistent with our commitment to consult closely with our Israeli friends, the president told the prime minister that he wants the United States and Israel to begin consultations immediately regarding our efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution,” said a statement by the White House. “The president underscored that the United States will remain firm in our commitment to Israel, which has good reason to be skeptical about Iran’s intentions,” it said.

Israeli TV news reported late Sunday that Netanyahu was “extremely angry” with Obama over the deal, that he fears the international sanctions regime will now crumble, that the US had not come clean to Israel over a secret back channel of talks with Iran, and that Israel’s military option for intervening in Iran is off the table for the foreseeable future now that the interim deal is done.

“The president provided the prime minister with an update on negotiations in Geneva and underscored his strong commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which is the aim of the ongoing negotiations,” the White House said.

According to the Associated Press, Obama updated Netanyahu on the secret talks channel in September.

Ilan Ben Zion and Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.

November 25, 2013 | 25 Comments »

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  1. yamit82 Said:

    Iran nuclear deal: Saudi Arabia warns it will strike out on its own – Telegraph.

    from that link:

    “This agreement could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran’s nuclear programme, if there are good intentions,” the Saudi government said But it warned that a comprehensive solution should lead to the “removal of all weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear, from the Middle East and the Gulf”.

    That has the ring of being directed towards Israel.
    I think Israel should try and find ways to get compromising info on Obama released. If he has problems at home he will have less time for other things. They could throw a spanner, clandestinely, in the dems push to win the midterm elections.

  2. @ yamit82:

    No flu shot yet shama!!!! Your lucky I don’t take care of you!!! one glass of wine or beer a day,no hard stuff, no cigarettes or cigars, no loose women. Bed by 10:30 up by 7:30, 30 minutes of exersixe a day, yoga or zuma three day aweek. The IDF has an easier regamine!!!!

  3. @ yamit82:

    But I see you do not disagree with my view Netanyahu won’t defy Obama.

    After all, there is no reason for him to send a team to the US to shape a permanent accord with Iran that will never happen.

    Any one who thinks Iran will sign away its nuclear rights in a putative final deal is dreaming.

  4. @ NormanF:

    President has a veto and he may even want such congressional actions as potential leverage in negotiations. He still holds all the cards so what ever congress does or does not do is not determinative, unless they can get enough votes to overcome a presidential veto…

    It is a way for some democrats to break ranks with Obama without attacking him directly over Obama-care.

  5. yamit82 Said:

    @ yamit82:
    ? Joe Scarborough calls Iranian deal ‘terrible” – YouTube.
    Joe gets it right while Richard Haass makes excuses. Even Haass says Kerry is “overselling” the deal.
    Nobody (including Andrea Mitchell !) has anything good to say about it.
    Poor Mika Brzezinski sits there quietly looking down…

    But its already a fait accompli. The West folded on Iran. No one has the spines to stand up to evil these days.

  6. yamit82 Said:

    Reports: U.S. Unfreezes $8 Billion in Iranian Assets
    Iranian officials praise ‘new path towards Iran’

    Appeasement First, Iranian Compliance Afterwards.

  7. yamit82 Said:

    Bipartisan scorn for the interim deal
    By Jennifer Rubin

    Congress is not going to do anything. It doesn’t want to be accused of interfering with presidential prerogatives in foreign policy. Israel should learn that America is the broken reed upon which to rely.

  8. yamit82 Said:

    Israel’s answer to Obama’s APPEASEMENT deal…

    Nice video but the prospects of Israel stopping Iran militarily were always iffy at best and in today’s international climate, they are exactly zero. Israel would wither away like a tree in the desert if it struck Iran on its own. Netanyahu’s tough rhetoric aside, Israel is resigned to having to live with an Iranian nuclear bomb.

  9. yamit82 Said:

    Re: BB
    When is weakness of character and appeasement not treason?
    There is No Excuse For Stupidity.

    Netanyahu is afraid of Obama. He will never attack Iran. He is not that stupid to have to Israel tossed aside alike yesterday’s newspaper wrappings. So the only thing he can do – which is all he is realistically doing is going along with the program like a good little Ghetto Jew. Do you really think Zionism emancipated the Jew? Surely you jest!

  10. News Outlets Held Off On Reporting Secret Iran Talks

    Multiple news outlets held off on reporting the news of secret talks between the United States and Iran, it was revealed on Sunday.

    After news broke of a nuclear deal between Iran and the West on Saturday night, the Associated Press and Al-Monitor both disclosed that the US and Iran had been engaged in unannounced negotiations since at least March.

    The AP then revealed that it had known something about the talks for about that long, but did not feel it had nailed down the story enough to report it:

    The AP was tipped to the first U.S.-Iranian meeting in March shortly after it occurred, but the White House and State Department disputed elements of the account and the AP could not confirm the meeting. The AP learned of further indications of secret diplomacy in the fall and pressed the White House and other officials further. As the Geneva talks between the P5+1 and Iran appeared to be reaching their conclusion, senior administration officials confirmed to the AP the details of the extensive outreach.

    Paul Colford, director of media relations for the AP, told The Huffington Post that the wire service had sought “the kind of confirmation that we obviously received over the weekend” before publishing its story.

    “We had to meet our own standards,” AP Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee told HuffPost.

    Al-Monitor wrote that it had learned of the secret diplomacy earlier in November, but had “agreed to hold the story at the administration’s request until the conclusion of the third round of nuclear talks that ended here in a breakthrough tonight.”

    Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen tweeted that the AP had also agreed to hold the story until a deal was reached, something reporters from the AP did not confirm.

    Holding a story at the request of government is, of course, nothing new. Recently, the New York Times and Washington Post did not report the location of a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia for over a year. The Times and other outlets were also involved in a dispute with McClatchy over whether or not to publish details about an intercepted al Qaeda communication.

    (h/t Politico)

  11. yamit82 Said:

    Everything You Need To Know About The U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal

    Wwhat was that post your left for dweller: stuped, poked, porked,jabed,humped etc

  12. Israeli Officials Knew White House Was Holding Secret Talks With Iran

    “We felt like we were being stabbed in the back.”
    http://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/israeli-officials-knew-white-house-was-holding-secret-talks

    CAIRO — Israeli officials knew they were being kept in the dark as the U.S. conducted secret talks with Iran, and the knowledge that the White House was “going behind Israel’s back” was one of the key sources of tension between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, according to a senior Israeli minister and other Israeli officials.

    “We did not know from the beginning, but we knew, we had intelligence that these meetings were happening,” said the Israeli minister, who spoke to BuzzFeed by phone from his Jerusalem office. He said that a “friend in the Gulf” shared intelligence with Israel that the meetings were taking place, and urged Israel to find out more. “I would like to say we knew the content of the talks, but we didn’t. What we knew was that the U.S. was choosing not to tell us about them and that was very worrying.”

    That “friend,” one foreign ministry official said, was Saudi Arabia, which along with Israel has most strongly objected to the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the West over the weekend.

    Al Monitor and the Associated Press reported late Saturday that a secret channel of direct talks between the White House and Iran had existed since March 2013.

    Senior Israeli cabinet minister Silvan Shalom was asked about the secret talks on Israel’s national radio Sunday, and appeared to confirm that Israel had found out about the talks through its own means. When asked what Israel knew and when, Shalom answered: “It is not important whether or not we were informed. What is important is if we knew, and we did know.”

    One Israeli lawmaker from Netanyahu’s party said that Israel’s leadership was “furious … we felt like we were being stabbed in the back.”

    “There was never a great love or warmth between Obama and Netanyahu but after we confirmed that they were seeking to hide talks with Iran from us there was distrust and suspicion in the relationship,” said the lawmaker.

    U.S. officials told AP that the discussions were kept hidden even from the U.S.’s closest friends, including its negotiating partners and Israel, until two months ago, and that may explain how the nuclear accord appeared to come together so quickly after years of stalemate and fierce hostility between Iran and the West.

    Omani officials confirmed to BuzzFeed that at least one of the meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials happened in Oman. Oman’s Sultan Qaboos was also a key player in helping President Obama ferry a letter to Iranian officials earlier this year.

    Obama only decided to inform Netanyahu of the talks when the two met in the White House on Sept. 30, and on that occasion only briefed him on two of the talks held.

    Following that meeting, both Obama and Netanyahu made a brief statement to reporters, but refused to take questions.

    Netanyahu said at the time that while he appreciated Obama’s diplomacy on Iran, he still felt that a credible military threat needed to remain on the table.

    “Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction. So for Israel, the ultimate test of a future agreement with Iran is whether or not Iran dismantles its military nuclear program. We have a saying in Hebrew, we call it mivchan hatotza’a — you would say it in English, what’s the bottom line? And the bottom line, again, is that Iran fully dismantles its military nuclear program,” said Netanyahu. “I also believe that if diplomacy is to work, those pressures must be kept in place. And I think that they should not be lessened until there is verifiable success. And, in fact, it is Israel’s firm belief that if Iran continues to advance its nuclear program during negotiations, the sanctions should be strengthened. It’s the combination, I believe, that has guided your policy and our policy so far, that is good credible military threat and strong sanctions I think is still the only formula that can get a peaceful resolution of this problem.”

    An aide in the prime minister’s office told BuzzFeed that Netanyahu’s comments that day sent a careful message to Obama, and that he was already concerned that a deal was in the works that Israel would object to.