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Why Did Ayatollah Khamenei Come to the Table?

(Fathom-BICOM) Ben Cohen interviews Michael Ledeen - Ladeen: It's conventional wisdom that Iran came to the negotiating table because of sanctions. I'm not sure that's correct. It may well be that Iran came to the negotiating table because President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif convinced the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, that if they went to the table, they would get everything they wanted from President Obama. Because, they said, America's will has been broken, and the Americans are prepared to make endless concessions just to keep talking. I'm not convinced that there's going to be a deal with Iran. Khamenei doesn't want to deal with U.S., he wants to destroy us. He says that every week - sometimes every day. So why should he make a deal when he's getting everything from us now without a deal? You have the moderate Arab countries who are, all of a sudden, talking to Israel, working out joint plans and contingencies with Israel. What can they do? If Iran is going nuclear - and there's not a leader in the Middle East who doesn't believe that Iran is going nuclear - then they have to defend themselves. And if America isn't available, who is? Dr. Michael Ledeen, a former consultant to the U.S. National Security Council, Department of State, and Department of Defense, is a Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2015-03-10 00:00:00
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