Daily Alert Archives

An American-Israeli Partnership to Prevent Iran from Obtaining Nuclear Weapons

(Ynet News) Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin - It would be wrong to give up the Iran nuclear agreement's achievements, particularly in the first years, before the main restrictions on the nuclear program start becoming invalid. At the same time, it would be wrong to allow the radical regime in Iran to reach advanced nuclear capabilities which are made possible in the later years of the agreement. With the arrival of the new U.S. administration, Israel has a second chance to influence U.S. policy toward the Iranian nuclear program: an opportunity for joint action against Iran and advancing a parallel agreement, an Israeli-American one, aimed at changing the strategic reality without violating the agreement. First of all, the two countries must agree on a new public red line. They should respond undauntedly to Iranian attempts to take advantage of breaches in the agreement. Second, the two leaderships must agree on the intelligence system to be operated to discover Iranian violations, and on a basket of responses to any such violation. It is also necessary that understandings with the U.S. will put Israel's military option back on the table as a last resort in order to prevent a nuclear Iran. Finally, Washington and Jerusalem must come up with a plan of action against Iranian support for terror organizations in the region and enforce UN Resolution 2231, which prohibits Iran from developing ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads. If deterrence and diplomacy fail, the American-Israeli partnership will be the way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The writer, former chief of Israeli military intelligence, is director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
2017-01-23 00:00:00
Full Article