By Iqbal Jassat
Israel’s antagonism and hostility towards Iran is no secret. No current or previous leader of the settler colonial regime has ever shied away from proclaiming belligerent policies which does not exclude plotting regime change in Tehran.
Netanyahu is neither the first nor will be the last Zionist to peddle lies and fabricate myths intended to smear Iran as an irrational terror-sponsor.
It thus comes as no surprise that Israel has applauded US president Donald Trump’s decision to “decertify” Iran’s nuclear deal.
Known as JCPOA, the agreement’s full title is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Equally surprising though living up to his unpredictable behavior, Trump has since his inauguration, certified the deal twice. In addition he has signed the waivers on reimposing sanctions twice.
Analysts who have attempted to make sense of the motives behind Trump’s decertification campaign, note that not all of his advisers are on the same page. The standard explanation thus is that he remains implacably hostile to it.
Though facing what’s been described as “near-consensus among his diplomatic and military advisers” against killing it outright, Trump has declared his game plan. Since Israel believes that the deal is to Iran’s advantage, it has agitated vehemently to kill it. However, in direct contrast, most of Europe’s diplomatic community adheres to it as an article of faith.
While Europe and Obama sold the deal as a major breakthrough – despite enormous pressure from Israel – most of the world accepted Iran’s bonafide as a credible deal maker to end the farce.
The few countries who joined ranks with Israel are not surprisingly, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE. These unelected despots fear losing their shaky thrones through popular revolt and have thus hedged their bets on Netanyahu’s rightwing regime.
America’s decision is thus reflective of the disproportionate influence apartheid Israel along with the Saudi monarchy wields.
What Trump and his cohorts choose to ignore is that the deal has created mechanisms which keeps Iran from developing sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon. Equally, Iran is pleased with the outcome which was preceded by a rocky ride.
At the time the Obama administration viewed the end-result as an important achievement allowing it to reposition engagement between itself and Iran. In fact it hailed it as the “best thing for world peace since the Marshall Plan”.
Trump of course has displayed utter contempt by opting to submit to Netanyahu’s “fixit or nixit” rhetoric at the United Nations. While his bellicose thunder seems to have toned down in recent days, observers of the deal wonder why Netanyahu appears to be less ostentatious.
It cannot be a turn-around for he remains an implacable enemy of the deal. Is it perhaps an awareness that the JCPOA will not be shredded by decertification for as long as the balance of signatories remain on board?
Or is it having to face the reality that whatever Trump touches turns to dust?
– Iqbal Jassat is an acclaimed writer, analyst and commentator and one of the founder members of MRN. His analysis is featured regularly in mainstream and alternate media outlets around the world. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
