Latest news with #AbrahamAccords
The Age
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
Few believe Iran has nuclear weapons. We can't afford to repeat the Iraq War lie
The Middle East is once again in danger of exploding, with massive global geopolitical and economic implications. The leader who bears most responsibility for this is undoubtedly Benjamin Netanyahu. For years, the Israeli prime minister has doggedly pursued the demise of the Iranian Islamic regime in line with his power interests and his vision of Israel's security requirements. His stated goal has long been to bring down the 'Islamic empire in Iran', 'expand the Abraham Accords with Arabs' and once and for all end the Palestinians' aspirations for an independent state. As part of this Middle East master plan, he has also zeroed in on Iran's nuclear program. But let's not forget: No concrete evidence exists that Iran has been manufacturing nuclear weapons. In a congressional hearing earlier this year, the United States' Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed this fact. And earlier this week, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that 'on the basis of our evaluation, we came to the conclusion that we could not affirm that there is any systematic effort in Iran to manufacture a nuclear weapon'. Despite this, Netanyahu continues to insist that Iran is on course to produce nuclear weapons within weeks, and the US is teetering on entering the war in Israel's support. Meanwhile, he omits the fact that Israel itself has its own nuclear program. Though Israel has never formally confirmed or denied its nuclear arsenal, its national Atomic Energy Commission was established in 1952. By 1958, researchers believe the government had established a weapons development site in Dimona, and American intelligence from the 1960s stated that there was a reprocessing plant for plutonium production at the site. Loading As the Federation of American Scientists wrote in 2007, 'the existence of Israeli nuclear weapons is a 'public secret' by now due to the declassification of large numbers of formerly highly classified US government documents which show that the United States by 1975 was convinced that Israel had nuclear weapons'. According to the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Israel today has at least 90 nuclear warheads and enough material to produce hundreds more. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has also found that of the 30 countries capable of developing nuclear weapons, Israel is among nine that possess them (Russia, US, China, France, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea).
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Slugfest in the Middle East
Listen to article Slugfest, yes; but of no ordinary consequences. It will take the world to keep it contained. Iran in the western construct is Middle East, not West Asia, and it is important to note. It comes under the geographical responsibility of US Central Command that oversees the Middle East. Israel too is a part as is Pakistan on its eastern most boundary. Nothing moves in the US CENTCOM AOR without its consent or at least without its notice. To imagine anything else is naïve. That is why the CENTCOM was created with its forward Headquarters conveniently placed in Al Udeid in Doha, Qatar. General Kurilla, the CENTCOM Chief, knows it all. Dial back a few weeks. President Trump wanted a 'deal' with Iran on the Nuclear Enrichment issue. Iran too wanted to settle now that a more aggressive administration was in power in Washington with its own peculiar worldview and willingness to support Israel to establish its dominance over the Middle East. For the more pliable wary of Israeli prowess there exist the Abraham Accords to help secure their future for Israel's acceptability only if Iran, the remaining stumbling block, could be subdued. The Houthis in Yemen would then easily acquiesce too. Iran's aspiration to be a nuclear power was already established. Agreement with the P5+1 had laid limits on Iran's ambition (Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty). But then Trump chose to dump the Agreement in 2018, three years after the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) was first signed. It opened the space for Iran to pursue its nuclear enrichment programme at its own pace. The IAEA could visit to inspect if Iran was complying to the limits of enrichment levels and the stockpiled enriched uranium. Iran though built in greater ambiguity. It is said that Iran moved significantly ahead of its below-5 per cent limit on enrichment under the Agreement and held a significantly higher value of stockpiled enriched uranium than stipulated. In 2023 it was reported that Iran had enriched up to and over 83 per cent level. It was barely short of the magical 90 per cent mark to turn into a weapon. Trump in his second term, aware of the leeway the US exit had afforded Iran, sought an immediate renegotiation of the deal to rein Iran in. Implicitly he may have had in mind to reinforce his credentials of a deal and a peacemaker before the Alfred Nobel Committee. Israel did not seem to agree nor did some from within Trump's team. Donald Trump's was the stated position. More likely it left space for its partner, Israel, to eliminate or at the least significantly degrade Iran's nuclear programme as a living and present danger to Israel's long-term health and security. Iran had/has two major nuclear enrichment facilities, one at Natanz, that Israel struck with some effect in the ongoing war with Iran, and at Fordow near Qom, which is far more sophisticated and secure where enrichment levels are suspected to have been breached. When Iran was reluctant to enter negotiations, Trump declared a sixty-day window for Iran to agree to a deal proposed by the US, else the cost to Iran would be heavy and unbearable in military terms. Five rounds down and sixth on the anvil when it was more than likely that Iran was coming around to agree on most terms, Israel attacked Iran. It was the sixty-first day from the day Trump had announced the window of opportunity. Coincidence? Or a well deliberated execution? I don't think it needs much thought. What has followed since June 13 has been a conflagration ready to envelop the whole region unless handled with care. Both sides rain missiles on each other and wreak untold pain and misery. Soon, civilian populations will be the victims to test and breach their threshold of tolerance and of the two societies and their political masters. In a slugfest, one who can absorb more is usually the one to prevail. Mohammad Ali, the late Boxing Champion, perfected this art and established a psychological edge over his opponent by inviting him to give him body blows. The national character of Iran and its thousands of years of civilisational history and the size of its population hold it in better stead than Israel which is still young as a nation even if it boasts of a history of suffering over centuries. In the Iranian character, death is celebrated albeit with remorse; in the Israeli experience suffering and victimhood is emphasised to gain empathy. These two characteristics will hugely define the ultimate victor in the civilisational sense. Either Iran will now run out of its missiles or Israel will breach its threshold of pain. Each may be the first sign for that side to find accommodation or exhaust itself to desperate resort. How might Iran's nuclear programmes be affected will depend on the damage the programme suffers, possibly delaying the timeline for weaponising its ability – an important Israel-US aim for this war. Negotiations will surely follow when the war finally ends but how much Iran may give to the US will depend on how Iran has fared in the war in perceptions and in real terms. If Iran seems to have held her line resolutely the regime and the ongoing system in power will sustain and survive – it can surely outrun Israel in this madmen race. Or if the US offers it a chance for peace on terms that may save the regime and buy time and keep foundations of Iran's nuclear programme, Iran may take that route. It would be prudent in a long game. It will also save the region from chaos, uncertainty and falling dominoes which are sure to follow. Regime change, the deeper or implicit political objective, is a more complicated and extended effect of the war and where might it first happen, Iran or Israel, is moot. What is of essence here is that Israel and its supporters are now loudly calling for the US to intervene on Israel's behalf; that Israel with its existing capacity cannot complete the mission of eliminating Iran's nuclear programme. Iran's resilience and unexpectedly ferocious response on an overly sensitive Israeli psyche to the losses amidst their population centers is the key to shout for the patron to come to the rescue. Israel stands exposed with its civilisational inadequacies. This is Iran's great achievement. Similarly, were Trump to jump in and directly attack Iranian assets it shall not only be an act of desperation but will also puncture Trump's long held position of withdrawing from forever wars. Iraq is what he always refers to as an example. Iran will still survive despite Fordow but what carnage may ensue at the US installations in the Middle East will only expand, engorge and envelop all the Middle East which will be rendered chaotic, explosive and uncontrollable for years to come. Iraq, Libya and Syria stand as sorry examples of such ill-thought adventurism. More likely better sense will prevail despite Netanyahu's Israel.
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider said leaders he met with in Middle East don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon
As Israel was bombing targets in Iran this week to neutralize its nuclear program and the Iranians were firing missiles at Israel, U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, was in the Middle East listening to leaders in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia. Leading a bipartisan trip to the three countries sponsored by the N7 Initiative, Schneider said leaders from all three nations made it clear they do not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, but they are hoping for a diplomatic solution. 'All three countries believe Iran having a nuclear weapon is an unacceptable existential threat to their countries as well as Qatar and Kuwait,' Schneider said. 'They do not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. They are concerned about the fighting and hope to see a diplomatic solution.' Schneider and his colleagues — U.S. Reps. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif, Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Don Bacon, R-Neb.— returned to Washington Thursday after cancelling plans to spend two days in Israel at the end of their trip to help promote the Abraham Accords. After meeting with leaders in the three Arab countries, the four congressmen were scheduled to leave for Israel. Schneider said with Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv closed, the quartet made plans to fly to Amman, Jordan, and travel to Israel by car. Since the trip was sponsored by N7 Initiative, which is a partnership between the Atlantic Council and the Jeffrey M. Talpins Foundation, Schneider said they needed the change in plans approved by the House committee overseeing such travel. The request was denied, shortening the trip. Though Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain are part of the Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia has yet to join and normalize relations with Israel. Schneider said the Saudi government hopes to normalize relations with Israel, but it has its own conditions. 'They want to see Israel on an irreversible path to a two-state solution,' Schneider said, referring to Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in two independent countries.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
MORNING GLORY: President Trump and the biggest decision of his life
The most important decision of President Donald Trump's life is before him. It is the decision of whether or not to order the United States military to assist Israel in destroying what remains of Iran's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The U.S. has the capabilities to do so. Does President Trump have the will to order it be done? If he does, he will almost certainly bring this war to an end and open the road to a vast expansion of the Abraham Accords. It is unrealistic to believe that the hard-liners around Ayatollah Khamenei will want to formally capitulate to the U.S. It is even more difficult to envision the "Supreme Leader" of Iran, Ali Khamenei —who has been a reckless fanatical ideologue for 36 years as dictator over the Persian people—ever countenancing the return of Iran to being a "nation instead of a cause" to borrow from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace scholar Karim Sadjapour. But if President Trump orders our military to destroy the most hardened targets in Iran's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, he will be ending a war that has been underway since first Ayatollah Khomeini and now Ayatollah Khamenei began waging against the U.S. in 1979, a war that has befuddled and defeated the best hopes and most complicated plans of every president since Jimmy Carter, who was shocked by the medieval fanaticism of the "true believers" behind the coup of the 1978-1979 revolution which toppled the Shah and then eliminated all other aspirants for government in Iran. Trump would stand alone as the president who understood how to defeat this evil regime. He will be seen by history as the president who had the strength and vision to finally end the malign aspirations of the Islamic Republic of Iran's rulers. As Trump did to ISIS he can do to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' most ambitious terror project: acquiring nukes and the ballistic missiles on which they can ride far and wide around the globe. Whether or not most of the world's leaders outside its alliance of tyrants say so, they will congratulate Trump privately as will history publicly. It is important to note that when then-plain-old businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump came down the escalator 10 years ago on June 16, 2015, to announce his candidacy, he included in his remarks the warning that "Iran is going to take over the Middle East…Think of it. Iran is taking over Iraq, and they're taking it over big league." Trump added —ten years ago!— his pledge about Iran and nuclear weapons: "I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. And we won't be using a man like Secretary Kerry that has absolutely no concept of negotiation, who's making a horrible and laughable deal, who's just being tapped along as they make weapons right now…" Donald Trump laid out his entire program in that speech and the most important parts of it deal with Iran and China. China is a superpower which must be dealt with carefully, the worst instincts of its regime deterred, its exploitation of the world stopped. But Iran is the immediate menace because if it gets a nuclear weapon, the fanatics who run that regime will use their first weapon against Israel and their second against us. The regime atop the Persian people, oppressing them terribly, is different from every other adversary of the United States and the West because it is a theocracy, and one with horrific visions of the "end times" which does not reject, but which could actually encourage nuclear war. This extreme branch of Shia Islam is a uniquely evil threat to the world. And President Trump is in a position to end the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and destroy the practical steps those ambitions require for the foreseeable future while setting a precedent —a "Trump Doctrine"— for the ages: Do not threaten or kill, wound or kidnap Americans and America, for we will stop you from doing it again. The appeasement caucus within the United States is loud. It's "sunk costs," especially for those with fingerprints on President Obama's disastrous "JCPOA" agreement or President Biden's disastrous decision to end President Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign from his first term, are lined up urging opposition to Trump's decisive action. They know their legacies are already in ruins, but they do not want President Trump's to grow beyond the Accords, Operation Warp Speed and many other accomplishments. They fear being exposed as foolish and wrong more than they fear America being endangered. Most of all, they do not want Trump remembered alongside the presidents who brought hot or cold wars to an end. President Trump can join the first rank of presidents with this decision. Pray he makes the right one. Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor, and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel's news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Israel-Iran conflict: US Congressmen see potential expansion of Abraham Accords
[Editor's Note: Follow the KT live blog for live updates on the Israel-Iran conflict.] There could potentially be an expansion of the Abraham Accords once this ongoing military conflict between Iran and Israel ends, according to visiting senior US officials. In an interview with Khaleej Times on Wednesday, Nebraska congressman Don Bacon (Republican), said there is a 'small interruption' but also potential for 'expansion' in the Abraham Accords which gives access to Gulf leaders access to Israeli leadership. 'The UAE has great access to Israel's leaders because of the Abraham Accords, and they've been able to work with the Israelis on providing aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. Abraham Accords allows the leadership (in the region) direct access to the Israeli leaders. That's a positive thing. But maybe once this conflict is done and Iran's nuclear capabilities have been minimised, the Abraham Accords may actually speed up and expand. This could be a positive thing in the long run,' said Bacon. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. Brokered by US President Donald Trump during his first tenure, the UAE was the first country to sign the Abraham Accords with Israel followed by Bahrain in 2020. A delegation of US Congressmen consisting of Democrat representatives Brad Schneider and Jimmy Panetta and Republican Congressmen Don Bacon and Zach Nunn, is visiting the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Israel. The visit is sponsored by the N7 Initiative, a partnership between the Talpins Foundation and the Atlantic Council. Schneider is also co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus, which encourages deeper partnership among the existing Abraham Accords countries – Israel, UAE and Bahrain. Schneider said they believe in the prospects and the promise of the Abraham Accords with the path to a better, more secure, more prosperous future for the Middle East. 'This trip was to visit UAE, Bahrain Israel — signatories to the Abraham Accords – as well as Saudi Arabia, and better understand how we might do more to strengthen, reinforce and expand the Abraham Accords in the future, and better understand the issues today affecting the countries that are a part of that future.' 'In a bipartisan spirit of Congress, we would like to see all the Gulf states including Kuwait and Qatar — as well as eventually Iran — being able to have a normalised relationship with Israel. The result will clearly be an economic success for the Middle East... We expect that leaders in the Middle East are going to stand up and define their own future,' added Nunn. GCC doesn't want further escalation On Friday, June 13, Israel launched an attack on Iran, killing its senior military leadership and also targeting its nuclear and military installations. The war entered its sixth day on Wednesday with US President Donald Trump asking Iran to surrender, but Iranian leadership rejected the call. Don Bacon added that the representatives of the Gulf countries they met showed 'deep concern about Iran gaining a nuclear weapon that is considered an existential threat. Whether through peaceful means or combat, Iran should not or cannot have a nuclear weapon. What I heard from many of the leaders is that they would rather see this done peacefully. I do see that the potential for the Abraham Accords can be extensive once this conflict is done.' On Tuesday, the UAE reiterated its call for prioritising diplomacy and peaceful resolution of Iran-Israel conflict amid growing concerns over a widening confrontation in the Middle East. Jimmy Panetta said the Gulf states and the US are worried this potential conflict will not escalate beyond what's going on right now. Congressman Zach Nunn of Iowa stressed that a congressional delegation that made it a priority to come to the Middle East in the middle of an active hot zone so that it could highlight how important not only the Abraham Accords have been, but who else could be a potential member. Jimmy Panetta of California said the Gulf leaders they met with were 'obviously worried about this conflict and potential escalation.' He added that the leaders in the region 'hope not just a non-nuclear Iran, but a region in which Iran no longer threatens the stability of this area.' The US congressmen said they want to see peace and asked Iran to respond to President Donald Trump proposal. 'This is not just good for the US, Iran or Israel and Iran, but for the entire Middle East. The Arab leaders that we've talked to also want to see de-escalation and meaningful but verifiable peace within Iran,' said Zach Nunn from Iowa. He added that Iran should step forward and show willingness 'to work with its Arab and American partners, and ultimately de-escalate with Israel. We can see a very successful Iran for the Iranian people.' Brad Schneider elaborated that President Trump has been clear that Iran can come to the negotiating table, allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors back into the country, willing to get rid of their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, abandon its efforts at enrichment, and commit to the compliance with the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Treaty. 'That's the starting point. One thing we've heard long before we came on this trip is that Iran with a nuclear weapon is a threat to all of the countries in this region, the US and rest of the world,' he said.
