Netanyahu tells Rice: Iran must not be allowed to enrich uranium. They remained poles apart.
Netanyahu tells Rice: Iran must not be allowed to enrich uranium. They remained poles apart..
( Obama v Netanyahu on the question of Iran… Who will the American people believe? – JW )
The deep divide between the Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the Iranian nuclear issue resurfaced during this week’s two-day (May 7-8) Jerusalem talks held by the visiting US National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who was joined by Wendy Sherman, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and head of the US delegation to the nuclear talks.
Rice reiterated President Barack Obama’s contention that Iran and the P5+1 countries must reach a deal by the year’s end, before internal political conditions in Iran alter the landscape. The US urges Israel to recognize that Iran is already irreversibly a nuclear threshold state, and so it should be permitted to maintain a civilian nuclear program. This includes uranium enrichment and the construction of new nuclear reactors, with the proviso that Tehran commits not to turn its capabilities to military uses.
The Obama administration is prepared to pledge that every intelligence-gathering method at its disposal will be used to monitor Iran’s nuclear program and ensure that the threshold is not crossed. It promises Israel, as Rice repeated in her Wednesday conversation with Netanyahu, that Obama will not allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons.
But debkafile’s sources in Jerusalem report that Netanyahu rejected the American position, arguing that Israel cannot leave its security in the hands of intelligence agencies whose forecasts and evaluations of the past years have often proved inaccurate.
Directly after Netanyahu and Rice met on Wednesday, a senior Israeli official said Israel continues to insist that Iran should not have the right to enrich uranium. The official, who spoke with unusual frankness, said that the Obama administration’s eagerness to seal the deal has more do with US domestic political concerns than Tehran.
“We would be happy to see July 20 pass without a deal,” the official said, referencing the target date set for a comprehensive agreement. He added that there was worry in Israel that Obama might be tempted to accommodate Iran now, in order to head off potential gains by Republicans in the November mid-term elections.
The Israeli official was emphatic about his bottom line: “Are we going to agree to [let Iran go ahead with] enrichment? No!”
On Thursday, May 8, Netanyahu echoed this outlook, saying: “Iran must not have centrifuges or enriched uranium.” Rice proposed a limit on the number of centrifuges Iran is permitted to operate, as well as a cap on the amount of uranium it can enrich.
Our sources say Netanyahu flatly rejected Rice’s argument that the quantity and sophistication of the centrifuges are not of he highest importance, compared with the real question of how many centrifuges Iran will be allowed to operate under close international scrutiny.
“The best defense against a nuclear Iran is to keep a nuclear weapon out of its hands. Tehran needs centrifuges and enriched uranium for the single purpose of building a nuclear weapon. Tehran must be deprived of this capability,” Netanyahu said Thursday.
According to debkafile’s sources in Washington, ahead of the Rice visit to Israel, administration officials conferred with several former Israeli security figures who are regularly consulted by Netanyahu on the nuclear issue. They were asked for an opinion on whether the prime minister would buy a compromise that permitted Iran to keep several thousand centrifuges and enrich a specified amount of uranium up to a low five percent grade.
Those advisers came back to Netanyahu with the impression that Obama was fixated on a fast deal regardless of Israel’s opposition. They also warned him that his rejection of the US compromise proposal would bring down on Israel’s head a propaganda campaign in both the local and international media that would impugn his credibility on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Jerusalem regards the Newsweek charge of Israeli spies crossing the red line in America as the opening shot of this campaign.
Officials in Jerusalem are also rubbishing a report on the subject that the Yediot Aharonot Hebrew tabloid is running Friday, May 9. It quotes Uzi Ilam, a long-retired former head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Committee, as arguing that Netanyahu is using the pressing Iran nuclear issue for political gain, when in fact, he says, Iran won’t be able to make a nuclear bomb for 10 years.
Knowledgeable officials say his information is years out of date. Almost all leading US, European and Israeli nuclear experts agree that Iran has reached the point of being able to manufacture a nuclear bomb in two or three or months.
WarSclerotic 
May 8, 2014 at 8:27 PM
It’s clear Obama is pushing the deal through. What will Netanyahu do?
May 8, 2014 at 8:30 PM
My two cents, nothing Obama has him by the balls and is squeezing. Anyone else brave enough to wade in on this?
May 8, 2014 at 8:53 PM
Seems to me that direct military intervention is the only way Iran will stop it’s nuke program. Unfortunately, the American people will not stand for yet another war in the Mideast, especially given the current distrust of the Obama administration and the sacrifice we endured in young lives and treasury the last THREE times. Also consider that if Israel attacks Iran, the polling in this country shows an even split over whether or not we get involved. Not very good odds if you consider what’s at stake.
May 8, 2014 at 9:00 PM
LS my read also, America is a no go. Do you think Israel will do anything big enough to make a difference in Iran’s obtaining nukes?
May 8, 2014 at 9:39 PM
Netanyahu’s Follies.
1. Netanyahu should have dealt with Iran militarily years ago. He did not.
2. Netanyahu tried to maneuvers other to do his dirty work like he was able to do in the past. He could not!
3. Netanyahu is now left hold the bag.
May 8, 2014 at 9:56 PM
Netanyahu probably should have told the Iranians years ago that any attack from a proxy would be considered an attack from Tehran and responded to accordingly.
May 8, 2014 at 9:51 PM
I believe Israel will and can do something big enough to make an overwhelming difference in Iran’s quest for nukes, but it’s going to cost a lot of lives on both sides. However, I think preemption is out of the picture and if hostilities do erupt, Israel will not be the one to fire the first shot.
May 8, 2014 at 11:12 PM
LS you maybe correct, but if an enemy is sworn to wipe you off the face of the earth and is obtaining nukes, is it wise to sit around while they surround your county with armies armed to the teeth with 10’s of thousands missiles and rockets not to mention the armaments Iran can bring to bear and let them pick the place once all there arms and forces are in place? I think not.
May 8, 2014 at 11:31 PM
Let’s just call it a temporary stalemate, much like the one that’s existed between the two Koreas for the last 60 years. When wars produce no clear winners, wars never end. This could be Israel’s fate as well since we now seem to live in a world that frowns upon the victor while feeling sorrow for the loser.
May 9, 2014 at 12:16 AM
LS I believe you’re correct, the only thing Israel can do now is engage in an arms race with Iran and hope for the best!
May 8, 2014 at 10:50 PM
JW,
I’m sure us Americans will all believe Rice! Such faith in her after she lied on all 5 Sunday morning shows about Benghazi!
In all seriousness though it’s pathetic that she’s the one tasked with convincing Netanyahu to accept Obama’s position.
The real question though isn’t what Americans believe, since another (possibly rigged again) presidential election is still years away.
The only thing that matters is whether or not Netanyahu is willing to keep his word to stop Iran before it’s too late!!!
May 9, 2014 at 12:11 AM
Spot on Mark…
May 9, 2014 at 12:18 AM
Unfortunately Mark, it’s already too late!
May 9, 2014 at 12:45 AM
Better late than never, i think there is a card in the sleeve of BIBI.
well i do not know how to put it but there are some documents in Egypt what shows some nice USA administration back stabbing shit, perhaps there is a way to find common ground with Sisi about this.
I suspect that there will be a huge change coming up very soon.
The Krim and the usa /eu and the middle east, play the cards well
And Saudi in not happy at all !
A nice mixture of intertwine agenda,s .
May 9, 2014 at 2:43 AM
Not in the cards,everyone will just muscle up and keep close tabs on everyone else. Big problem for Israel though, Arab nut jobs strap explosives around themselves to blow up a handful of Jews. They’ll be lining up around Mecca if they could deliver a devise that could kill hundreds of thousands Jews. Nukes in the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah could be catastrophic. Missiles need not be launched it could be delivered clandestinely.
May 9, 2014 at 5:14 AM
always wondered why a head of state (Bibi) is meeting with lower rank functionaries and bureaucrats
May 9, 2014 at 5:21 AM
Iran is still a paper tiger, it can be hit where it really hurts (oil industries, etc) and still be done under cover (not nuclear things, I think that will require military and open attacks)
May 9, 2014 at 4:08 PM
“As long as Israelis don’t produce offensive videos against Islam like the one that caused the attack on Bengahzi, they have nothing to worry about.”
-Susan Rice
Just kidding….LS.