(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob - It is important for the Trump administration to establish with Iran that "we are not going to play the same game that the Obama administration was. We see what you are doing. We don't accept it and we will respond. This is important for U.S. deterrence," Emily Landau, head of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said on Sunday. "There is a certain equation between the U.S. and Iran. If Iran provokes and the U.S. does not react, Iran's deterrent power goes up because it learns it can do these provocations with no consequences. U.S. power goes down because it is so afraid that it will let any provocation go by, even acting as Iran's advocate so that there is no problem with anything Iran does." Former Israeli national security adviser Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror noted, "This [U.S.] government is not afraid Iran will walk away from the [nuclear] deal, so it has more freedom...this advantage allows it to put pressure on Iran" and to respond to Iranian provocations. Amidror said the current government "thinks the deal is bad for the U.S....thinks it must contain Iran...does not worry about the outcome if the agreement ended and...would be happy" if it could blame Tehran for ending the deal. He added, "It is not connected to Israel. It is connected to an American understanding that these things are not good for the U.S."
2017-02-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive