This is really what America wants? A president who has to be the one in charge- even if it means dismantling what others did- and Mr. Netanyahu who is under legal scrutiny for corruption. They are the arbiters of truth? Sure.
1
I WONDER WHO'S GOING TO stop the Trumpenstein Monster's latest food fight. Having no regard for the facts other than his feelings and emotions, he is in no place to make any sort of informed, rational decision. It remains to be seen how much Trump-Tee Dumb-Tee will be swayed by Macron, Merkel and May (oh gee M & M & M). I'm highly suspicious of the documents and discs provided by Israel. Netanyahu does not have a reputation as an honest broker. There is no word on how US experts reviewing the alleged Iranian documents will have verified their authenticity. The difference between Iran and North Korea is that there is no player on the world stage who can get involved and strike a deal that would prevent Trump from sabotaging things. One hope is that there is a back channel to the Arab nations in the Mideast who do NOT want to see Iran expanding its power as they view it correctly as being a purveyor of terrorism.
1
Netanyahu's is a master at playing the fear card he does it in every Isreali election, and under his tenure, Isreal is worse off on every front.
Iran is now a greater threat to them due to the failed popular uprising in Syria. Which he no doubt had a hand in.
The US would be wise to leave any further ME adventures alone Isreal has made its own bed for better or worse now it needs to lie on it.
Here is a question for those who believe that Iran has no intention to develop nuclear weapons:
Why is Iran developing an arsenal of missiles with range of 2,000 miles or more if not to place nuclear warheads on those missiles?
5
I recall, like it was yesterday, when Netanyahu wanted us to invade Iraq. I would never, ever, listen to anything he has to say. I'd hope our country would do likewise.
4
Spying on Iran is certainly top priority for Israeli intelligence agencies and they had a stunning success; penetration of a Iranian's nuclear weapon development archive.
But they were not able to find a trace of any indication of a breach of the 2015 treaty.... found only rows of safes with spiderweb since 2015.
So, maybe Iranians don't cheat on 2015 treaty ?
The "worse deal ever" meant that Iranians turned over roughly 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium to Russia and 20 ton of heavy water to US, and decommissioned 15,000 centrifuges. They were 12 months from enough uranium to build 10 nuclear warheads.
Can someone explain that to Mr Trump ?
3
Q: What has Iran done to the United States or any other country? Has it attacked,occupied or transgressed any countries sovereignty ? Or have they supported any entity that could claim the above transgressions?
A:NO
So Why pick on Iran ?
Because The Master Israel wants us to.
The West Bank and Gaza and I’m not the only places occupied by Israel so is Washington DC
1
Iran has tried and failed on many occasions to come to terms with the United States and Israel, suggesting a roadmap by which it would accept a two-state solution and in return gets rid of the sanctions that doesn't harm anybody but the Iranian people. That was back in Khatami era and it was approved by the current leader Khamenei. The US administration flat out rejected the proposal, hoping that the pressure would force the populace to oust the regime from within and without the US involvement.
Nowadays countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel are trying their best to force the US to go head to head with Iran, fearing the fact that by the sharp increase in US oil production in recent years and implementation of the plans to replace oil with other sources of energy, Saudi oil would mean nothing to the west in a couple of years. That will surely loosen the US commitment to its Middle Eastern allies and for those countries it's NOW OR NEVER. Iran has a huge (and educated) population compared to those of Saudi Arabia and Israel and it's only her destiny to be the ultimate power broker inside Middle East besides Turkey and Egypt and leaders in western countries realize this. Countries like Saudi Arabia has little to offer besides oil and that's their ultimate weakness. I suspect a partition of bigger players in ME by US in the near future if they remove the current government in Iran.
5
Sanctions need to be applied by the rest of the world on the brutal and illegal occupiers of Palestine. Take away the USA`s UN Security Council veto which has been used dozens of times to prevent the UN from sanctioning the rogue state and let justice be done.
4
No one in the Trump administration who can clear the low bar for credibility set by Cheney and Rumsfield in the run up to the biggest strategic disaster or the last century in Iraq. So, they need to farm out the deceit to Bibi. Clearly there will be no coalition of the willing this time, and US will be lucky if major world powers don't take the side of the Iranians.
8
The current Iranian government is using its sanction-released dollars to pursue missile technology development, nuclear technology development, and support of worldwide terrorism. Morocco broke off relations with Tehran yesterday for example because of this. The agreement fully expires in 2030, after which Tehran will be fully ready for nuclear weapon tipped missiles. President Obama was hoping for the moderates but that isn't working. The Iranian people are young, smart,and ready to join the rest of the world as citizens of a country and government that aren't world pariahs. Protests are everywhere in Iran, but the media isn't there to cover them. The EU is a sad sedated disillusioned group as a pseudo- government over are we or aren't we countries. We are on the right path with the current Iranian government - a true and perhaps last real enemy of our world.
3
When are the Israelis going to permit international inspections of their nuclear sites?
11
The issue everyone tries to conceal or refuses to see is that possession of any type of document that can lead to the fabrication of nuclear weapons is a breach on the agreement on the part of Iran. If Iran was holding the agreement all these documents should had been handed to the IAEA. They were not. They were hidden and then moved to a secret location for safekeeping. If Iran is not planning to build a nuclear weapon once the 10 years of very intrusive inspections - we’ll with the exception of Parchin and Fordo, where they have 24 days to clean illicit activity - why were they storing and hiding this documents?
The problem here is that the West was so eager to get an agreement that it signed a document that legitimizes Iran’s ambitions over time without any long term vision. Now we are worse than in 2015- we either keep a subpar deal or we go to no deal without Europe and thus less bitting sanctions. All because politicians are more concerned with their legacy than the long term consequences of their actions.
4
Mr. Bush, Cheney, and their merry band of warmongers started the ball rolling by making all-war-all-the-time the biggest US export in the 21st century, but historians will note that the Netanyahu / Trump alliance was the critical point at which the United States finally and completely relinquished its role as a leading proponent of civilized, honorable behavior in the world.
11
Israel isn't exactly a neutral third party. There only motivation is to ensure there is no rapprochement between Iran and the West. It will diminish their status as a "pro western" island of "democracy" in the Middle East. Netanyahu is smart enough to realize that the nuclear deal, which involves reducing sanctions is the quickest way to an eventual regime change in Iran. This makes Iran a future competitor for U.S. aid and greater influence (which Iran already has) in the Middle East. Bottom line is that the U.S. and Israel interests in the region are divergent. Israel wants and needs perpetual war -- the U.S. needs peace.
8
It is time that the US acts only on the basis of its notional interests and not those of Israel. Leave the Iran nuclear Agreement alone.
8
It sounds like Trump is emboldened by what he sees as success in N Korea (where he got lucky in the sense that N Korea’s tests destroyed their own test site, and as a small country, have few or no other locations) - but this is a different geopolitical situation; no doubt we’d all love to keep nuclear arms out of Iran - or anywhere else in the Middle East, but we’re still embroiled in Syria, who knows where Iraq is at...
or Trump is just trying to distract us from all the turmoil surrounding his presidency, and thus quite capable of going to war to save himself (in what he thinks is a less risky situation than N Korea, no missiles capability yet)
2
All of Netanyahu's information is old. I'm getting sick and tired of him interfering in US foreign policy, and with our leaders, and the rest of us. We don't interfere with Israel's foreign policy.
Netanyahu has gone too far again. Finally, the US gives Israel more financial aid than anyone else. So, we adequately help Israel.
Besides trying to interfere with our foreign policy, the purpose of Netanyahu's continuing interference, it is to deflect the pending corruption indictments against him. Netanyahu is corrupt.
What Israel needs is new leadership, away from Netanyahu's corrupt administration, a two state solution as Israel had promised, and a pull back of Israeli's illegal encroachments into the territories which would be part of that solution.
Until Netanyahu is gone, and new leadership resolves this matter there will be no peace.
34
Look to Tom Friedman's recent column on Iran and Israel and then ask yourself if the current agreement doesn't need a second look. It's true that it's bad precedent to go back on our word after the ink has dried on an agreement but - hey, this is now 2018 and the scenario has changed. Iran is firmly entrenched in Syria with Hezbollah tagging along as their poodle. Clearly something is potentially brewing as it already has with recent border activity (i.e. Iranian drone activity).
1
And just why does this matter to Uncle Sam and why should it influence the nuclear deal with Syria?
5
Here we go, alone down the path with Bibi, who lest we forget, slept in Jared Kushner’s childhood bedroom in Livingston NJ. And oh by the way, is under siege by his own set of investigators and political opponents. The ties that bind.
Maybe in exchange, Bibi has agreed to send some investors for 666 Fifth or take javanka in exile, when they finally flee the White House.
16
So Iran was not honest prior to the agreement a situation the world was well aware of , most importantly it has since the agreement met all conditions as verified by all Intel agencies including the Israelis . This is the basis for continuing the agreement.
North Korea has also lied extensively in the past does this disqualify them from any future agreements with us according to the standards articulated in Irans case by Trump, Pompeo and Netanyahu.
Of course it will not
Double standards , chicanery are tools of both the Trump and Netanyahu regimes .
They also ignore the lies we and they have told for example WMDs in Iraq.
The Iran agreement is not perfect but it it eliminates a potential nuclear nation.
We must keep to the agreement , enforce it and slowly but surely bring the 70 million fine Iranians into the world economy
The irony is that this agreement in many respects will be the template for an agreement with North Korea.
Maybe the best argument for Trump will be if he tears up the Iran agreement it will offset any credit he gets for any Korean agreement with the Nobel committee
11
How convenient for Trump and his new hawkish anti-Iran foreign policy. One must wonder at the coordination and timing with new anti-Iran hawk Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just happening to be in Israel at the moment the Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu made his case in English to his mostly Hebrew speaking citizens for the U.S. to pullout of the Iran nuclear accord. Shades of the run up to the Iraq War. Do I hear a chorus of "no collusion, no collusion!"
10
Prime Minister Netanyahu (an M.I.T. Grad) understands that the best way to deal with Trump is to tell him exactly what he wants to hear. Does it need to be 100% factual? Of course not, the less facts the better.
9
Suspecting Iran of lying about the existence of a nuclear weapons program before the US signed the nuclear deal is hardly the same thing as discovering now just how much Iran blatantly and repeatedly lied about that program. Moreover, let's assume for the sake of argument that the nuclear deal was based on the assumption that Iran was lying about its nuclear weapons program and that the deal was designed to prevent Iran from lying in the future. Does that mean that Iran should not be sanctioned or punished for blatantly lying? If and when Trump is found to have colluded with Russia, or obsructed justice or perjured himself, are we going to be satisfied merely with taking steps to make sure he doesn't do it again and dispense with any punishment? Why should Iran be treated any differently?
The bottom line is that Europe can be like Fleetwod Mac and "go it's own way" with respect to Iran if it so chooses, but this country's position should be more like A Flock of Seagulls: "Iran so far away, Iran all night and day, I[ran] couldn't get away"
3
I ran so far that it forced me to consider the nature of pursuit, fidelity, and reality. Cultural propaganda games have been going on for as long as any one individual seems to be able to trace.
I am tired of the US being Israel's piggy bank and told what to do by Netanyahu. He's bombing Syria, killing innocent people and we think that's OK? Trump must want to build one of his tacky hotels in Jerusalem.
13
Israel's claims are old news, history. Shall we talk about Israel's illegal occupation of the West Bank.
15
Or their nuclear weapons?
3
Our allies, in Europe, are correct. Israel is purposely wrong, and promoting war.
11
Te Headline is wrong: Israel‘s claims are not Israels claims but war-crazy Netanjahu‘s claims. And the „US claims“ aren’t US but Trump (and some ill-minded Republicans) claims.
8
Israel has the atomic bomb and no one says nothing! Israel attacks Syria and Lebanon as if it is a bodily function! Iran has not attacked no one in 317 years. Iran was attacked by saddam and world including US, Europeans and USSR supported him only Syria and Israel helped Iran!saddam used chemical weapon he got from the West against Iran. Iran is using proxy wars only for national interests. US has no business being in the mid east and attacking Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, all these countries not long ago were part of greater Persian empire (Iran) the oldest existing civilization! Israel is a made up country with no history. Iranian did not kill jews, Germans did, they should be held responsible for what they did .Iranian want to live in peace with no US soldier in their backyard! Iran is the only power with boot on the ground that fought ISIS that was made up by US and Saudis. Iran is the only country that is invited by the legitimate government of Syria!
12
You are right Mohammad - Iran "has not attacked no one in 317 years" - they have attacked many people. For instance, there was the 1994 Iranian bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in which 85 innocent civilians were killed. More recently Iran sent an armed drone into Israel. And as far as what Iran is doing in Syria and Iraq (and Lebanon), make up your mind. Were they invited or is Iran trying to re-establish the "greater Persian empire" you mention? Your comment in defense of Iran actually has the opposite effect. In fact it makes Iran look so bad, I suspect that you really an are an Israeli agent posing as an Iranian. You need to be a little less obvious next time so you don't give your cover away.
4
Well, I guess Europe assumes Israel will be Iran's first strike, which will give the French and the English time to strike Iran before they get hit. The French and the English don't really care about Israel.
1
John Kerry said that the Iran deal would have the toughest verifications ever.
According to this article, the deal does not exempt Iran's military installations, yet apparently no one is inspecting them.
Why not ?
Perhaps because Obama and Kerry were afraid of finding something, messing up their chance for a Nobel Prize....
2
Netanyahu's lies against Iraq send US to a disastrous war. Now he needs US to fight another war for him with the same kind of theatrical deceits...I guess will never learn who our real enemies are.
6
The only people in the World who want to crash this Iran deal is BEBE and Israel. Netanyahu is a liar just like trump and is pushing his propaganda....trump is of course weak minded and will go where he is led by Putin & Netanyahu.
12
Anybody still remembers the nonsense Bush and Cheney came up with? Hundreds of thousands Iraqis lost their lives as well thousends of Allied soldiers. Lives destroyed, disabled veterans, none of the Hawks learn or want to learn.....
8
Iran doesn’t want to defend itself, it wants power. Israel has power and nukes and doesn’t want to share it. The fragile peace on Earth we all enjoy is contingent on the prevailing power structure enforced and projected by the US. More specifically, near nuclear monopoly. Let’s keep it that way
1
“The deal was made on a completely false pretense,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said at her daily briefing. “Iran lied on the front end. They were dishonest actors. So the deal that was made was made on things that weren’t accurate, and we have a big problem with that.”
Hey, Trump promised on the front end to release his tax returns and drain the swamp. Hasn't done either. Does this give us the right to cancel the agreement?
9
Bebe and his fellow Philadelphians and Brooklynites need to make a decision on whether they are Israeli or Americans, and in either instance, act alone. This country and administration has distanced themselves too far from our European Allies, Israel is a problem. merchant is pro Palestinian!
6
It could hardly be more obvious that Netanyahu is (still) trying to kill the Iran nuclear accord by using previously disclosed information and presenting it as new and damning. The only thing that matters is that Iran stopped its nascent nuclear weapons program in 2003 and has not restarted it since. Is that not the West's overriding goal with regard to the accord? Of course it is, and Israel knows this, but their goal is different. It is to destabilize the region and remove from power what they regard as hostile governments in Iran and Syria.
Fortunately, our European allies see the game that Netanyahu is playing and do not seem inclined to play along. If the U.S. decides to join the game on its own and withdraw from the accord, it may signal the dissolution of the NATO alliance as we know it, all to satisfy the paranoid delusions of a tiny country that does not truly share America's values. It's a classic case of the tail wagging the dog, enabled by hawkish neoconservative handlers in the U.S. administration.
6
Once again, Israel is bound and determined to nudge the US into another catastrophic, unwinnable, worse-than-useless Middle East war with the associated staggering human and material costs. And to their luck, the mix of fools and incompetents in the White House and Congress is just right to fulfill their wish.
Since my birth in 1949 the US, with it's war budget greater than that of the next 8 countries (including China and Russia) combined, has tied one and lost three wars, with the latter three significantly reducing US prestige, influence, fiscal stability, and security.
Now it appears Bolton, Pompeo, and the other chickenhawk neocons, taking advantage of Trump's distraction frantically shielding his criminal behavior, are going to drag us into a fifth, hoping for a different outcome.
6
For all the noise coming out of Washington these days, the potential decision by Trump to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran should be the most concerning. When American and Israeli hawks are trying to manipulate this president to shelve an agreement that has successfully eased tensions with Iran and its neighbors, we should all be worried.
The Trump White House is already wrecking our finances and environment. But moving the U.S. and the Middles East toward military conflict under specious reasons and political stagecraft would be an unmitigated disaster for us all.
6
The US and Israel remain lockstep in the purposeful fantasy that Iran is the most destabilizing nation in the Middle East. That assessment from the originator of the Iraq fiasco which ironically made Iran the big winner, and a brutal occupying power with nuclear weapons, is a sad joke.
29
A sad joke that you blame Israel, and Jews, for provoking the war against Iraq. If intelligence failed about Saddam's WMDs, blame America, Europe, and Israel together.
So Iran is a stabilizing force in the Middle East? Ever speak to non-Shiite Lebanese, who largely hate the control Hezbollah has over them? What about the control used in Iraq? Think the Sunnis, including the Kurds, qvell over this?
If you consider Iran's prop of Assad to be stabilizing, won't ask your opinion on the chemical attacks he uses, fully supported by your "stable" Iran.
3
All this discussion assumes that Iran is some kind of omnipotent aggressor threatening the world, when in reality they cannot even threaten Israel, which can take good care of itself and is totally driving the argument. The Iranian government is surrounded by enemies (yes, they have done a good job of creating them) and is interested in survival, not nuclear arms. Our enormous and out-of-control military establishment has a long and storied history of making puny actors into some kind of existential threat to the nation's defense - read Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea. Remember when Saint Ronnie said that the Nicaraguan Sandinistas were only a day's drive from Texas? He must have known better roads than I do. Total malarkey. This is grand theater and good business for the oligarchy, always about the profits.
24
When regarding Eurpoe’s hopeful, sanguine view of the nuclear deal, look no further than its economic and corporate interests. They’ll say and do a lot to keep the deal alive. Or are nefarious corporate interests only an artifact of benighted US behavior? Our enlightened neighbors across the Atlantic would never succumb to such a temptation, would they?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/06/europ...
2
The hawks have now won over an oval office that has no idea what is going on. It is pretty clear that Mr. Obama’s deal with Iran would never please the hawks here and in Iran and it didn’t. It is pretty clear that Mr. Netanyahu is himself a hawk and wants to destroy the Iranian government. He now has a willing puppet in the oval office that can’t think for himself and worse is listening to those who want to end it all now. The Europeans want to salvage the deal but they don’t have a partner they can count on in the White House. Even President Obama said that this agreement wasn’t the best but it was a way to slow down the process of Iran finalizing their bomb. Now we will see just how fast Iran gets its bomb and moves everyone closer to conflagration.
15
Looks like Trump's bromance with the French president really won Macron over. Emmanuel held firm on his conviction that the Iran deal was good and should be built-upon.
Macron's the kind of president this country needs. Intelligent, thoughtful, competent, communicative and of sound character. Our POTUS fails on all of these traits.
9
Why do we allow the only country in the Middle East that possesses -- and is not part of the NPT -- a nuclear arsenal any say in how to deal with Iran?
26
If you don't play the game, why should you get to make the rules?
All of us fools have been led down a yellow, brick road of deceit and greed. Now, we are all complicit. This protracted and tacit collaboration with evil has broken all values which America once stood for. Empiricism relied on its own system of weights and measures. Fait accompli.
1
This whole mess is a product of Israel's absurd demand that the U.S. help her keep the Arabs and the Iranians too divided politically and militarily to be able to challenge Israel's nuclear and military supremacy in the Middle East. But, as Col James Wilkerson said on MSNBC the other night, this actually entails U.S. involvement in a Middle East perpetually unstable and on the brink of war. Mike Pompeo is smart enough to realize that this strategic goal is simply impossible for the U.S. to enforce, and ultimately catastrophic if we make it a perpetual indice of our policy in that region. But he seems to have shelved his brilliance to serve his own political ambitions. What an amazing spectacle!
8
Key words:"Mr.Obama".......Let's face the reality of Mr. Trump and Mr. Nethanyahu. Both are under siege in their own countries. Both feel supremely slighted by that former President , who they both have had racist issues with.
I am tired of pretending that Mr. Trump bases his decisions on logical reasoning and knowledge. He is a mean spirited, jealous and deeply insecure old man whose hatred for President Obama and most people of color is both obvious and documented further back in his personal history. If Obama did it, it must be changed....We all saw how inept he was at changing both healthcare and DACA.
Bibi is desperate to hold onto his power and is facing legal issues within Israel about corruption. Neither Bush or Obama trusted him or relied on his version of reality. With Trump, a somewhat diminished kindred spirit, Bibi has his war machine against Iran.
Neither man should inspire the confidence of anyone and this time Europe is ahead of us on the ladder of trust and belief. This tale carries a stench of deception.
23
Big surprise. The White House and Capitol Hill have long been considered Israeli-occupied territory by much of the world. The U.S. has used its veto power in the U.N. Security Council a total of 43 times over the decades to shield Israel from having to comply with international law. This double-standard undermines efforts to establish world order and puts Americans at risk.
6
Trump and Huckabee Sanders accusing the Iranians of lying is rich.
But looking at the situation realistically, if I was the leader of Iran I would be getting nuclear weapons if I did not have them already. If Sadaam Hussein had actually had nuclear weapons he would probably still be alive and still ruling Iraq. Same for Gaddafyi in Libya. The Ukranians also once had nuclear weapons and made the mistake of giving them up.
Kim in North Korea is watching. From his point of view, it would be insanity to actually get rid of this nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, having nuclear weapons seems to bring safety for the ruling regime in each country.
6
Dear God. Israel is trying to get us into another war.
16
Without the EU, China and Russia going along, the imposition of US sanctions on Iran is nearly meaningless except for impounding whatever assets Iran has stored in US financial institutions.
So, what is it that Mr. Netanyahu wants?
The only answer that could have any value is US forbearance for a massive Israeli air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
1
Apparently Ms Huckabee-Sanders only recognizes lies and dishonesty coming from outside the White House. No, that can't be true, Netanyahu's slideware rehash of his extra-legal Congressional presentation hosted by J Boehner is dishonest in every way. At least Isreal hasn't downgraded their government - notice how Bibi's commitment to peace is working out. Demonstrators in Gaza at the border shot by excellent marksmen, through the head. Some had rocks and fire, apparently, some just ran toward the border. If the standard for the word and commitment of the US has become, in essence, a complete reversal upon change of administration based on "they hid other things from us" any American Republican in the House should submit a bill of impeachment today.
When Trump said we should "run America like a business" did anyone believe he would manage to run it as much as possible like a Trump business? We have accomplished nothing yet in Korea, as we know. What has the Republican Congress and Trump Administration achieved that has helped or improved the lives of Americans today? Both the budget and tax "makeover" helped wealthy business and the rich, but only temporarily and at what cost?
Call your Congressmen and Senators today and demand impeachment. Be sure to call at least one Republican from your state, target House members first - choose a nearby district or even one you're connected to from another State to reach out to the GOP.
5
Netanyahu conveniently shifting the focus away from the murderous Israeli actions along the Gaza border. Now he can focus on getting his soulmate Trump to attack Iran.
It will be a ratings booster for Trump and the Republicans and, of course, the Times supports every military misadventure Washington starts, so expect strong support from the Times.
7
I smell John Bolton and Pompeo behind this. Folks, this administration is picking for a fight, or more precisely, yet another war. Bibi's "performance" is deja vu re his "oratorial" rant to Congress way back when the Iran Deal was being negotiated. Be careful of the, let us say, hyperbole of this Israeli leader. He, like Putin, attempts to exert too much control and power over these united States. And Trump is the perfect puppet with his alleged money entanglements and innate nativism. If we via our Congressional representatives fall victim to this triumvirate above and decide on pulling out of this agreement, I believe we have further endangered the world. Iran will follow suit, possibly giving these war hawks what they have been aspiring to for years...a "reason" to invade and destroy Iran.
10
Trump's America isn't breaking with Europe, it is breaking with Civilization and embracing ignorance and bigotry. Israel has very good reasons not to care that the US sinks into darkness; the Jewish People have learned from history that no cost is too high to protect themselves, and if Americans foot the bill, so much the better.
6
For a sall price of 7 billion dollars a year Israel will happily influence our President. A nation that spied on ad snuck around the US and the UN's back to develop its own nuclear missiles calls other liars and cheats, precious.
9
Trump seems to be itching to get into war with the Iranians. Why not? The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and turned that country into a shambles. We have been heavily involved in Syria -- a country that is sunk in chaos and violence. We are helping the Saudis destroy Yemen. There is no end in sight to war in Afghanistan. Libya has been destroyed.
It seems logical to go to work on Iran next.
9
This is not new information. Everyone knew that Iran was pursuing nuclear bombs - that's why the deal was made in the first place. We're not making the same deal with Somalia or Iraq or Mexico or Switzerland or anyone else because they're not pursuing nuclear bombs.
This is really ridiculous.
7
Netanyahu is the Churchill of our time
7
“It’s a real opportunity for Netanyahu to achieve things he couldn’t achieve in the Obama years,” because lying to Obama got you nowhere. Lying to Trump -- a man deeply committed to the art of the lie -- is a much better bet.
60
It's completely ironic that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is calling out the Iranians for lying when she makes a living at being a professional liar.
“The deal was made on a completely false pretense,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said at her daily briefing. “Iran lied on the front end. They were dishonest actors. So the deal that was made was made on things that weren’t accurate, and we have a big problem with that.”
25
I guess Netanyahu and Trump want Iran to build nuclear weapons. Isn't that ironic. If the US breaks the deal, isn't that what the Iranian's will do?
14
Mr. Netanyahu is a creature that gorges itself in death and destruction. He has found a twin soul in Trump to go happily into the abyss of war. left to their own evil instincts they'll drag the world into it. The blind leading the blind.
28
Sanders:
“Iran lied on the front end. They were dishonest actors...we have a big problem with that.”
Since before the presidential campaign, Trump has employed a strategy of aggressively manipulating public perception, exploiting the notion that "perception is reality". He has used his visibility and his megaphone to loudly promote his distorted version of the facts. He has ridiculed and dismissed documented evidence. Above all he has LIED shamelessly, blantantly and constantly, with the aim of shaping public perception into an alternate reality that adulates and empowers him.
As a result Trump and the members of his cult, er, I mean his staff, have obliterated their own credibility. Their words simply cannot be trusted.
So it is ironic, and sickening, to read the press secretary's expression of umbrage at the Trump cult's perceived dishonesty of the Iranians.
More importantly, her comments are deeply troubling. Trump and his cohort are devout believers in his alt-reality, and he is going to act on his beliefs to destroy the Iran deal.
All of us in the real world will then have to live with the grim reality of increased Mideast instability and likelihood of war.
25
Does our present agreement not let us inspect Iran to prove or disprove Israel's claim against Iran?
Just asking.
7
Yes. Of course it does. Current inspectors say Iran is living up to the agreement. All the documents ““ revealed applied to past acts.
5
Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel will say and do anything to get a war going against Iran. When despite any flaws the agreement is a step away from conflict. And that is the thing, Netanyahu wants war, he wants to take out Iran. He is as much a danger to the world as Trump.
27
The Iranian "deal" is only a deal for Iran. Where are the articles on international inspectors verifying all the dismantling? According to Congressional testimony, Obama gave the Iranians over 33 billion dollars... we stopped ALL sanctions against them, and the world got...nothing...in return, other than more threats from them. I suppose that IS a good deal, if you speak Farsi. Or, if you are naive enough to think they are not still pursuing nuclear arms in secret.
5
My guess is that a country renown for its technical brilliance has a leader capable of putting together a power-point presentation without relying on the Trump Administration. Is there no bottom to the ugly comic sneering of the "New York Times" about Israel's leadership? This piece repeats some of the rhetoric de jour about Netanyahu's histrionics -- his theatricality, etc. Stop showing your distaste so vividly and transparently. It causes readers to doubt your good faith.
4
Unbelievable. The White House is caught flat-footed, lying about the basis for breaking a deal that every one of our allies, save for Israel, agrees is vital to Middle Eastern security--and they: (i) pretend it was a typo; and (ii) try to distract from their duplicity by claiming without empirical evidence that we should escalate against Iran. We have been here before, with the false evidence manufactured by the Bush Administration, and after enabling Cheny, et al., to line their pockets on the backs of our dead sons and daughters in the Armed Forces... we're going to do it again?
62
Israel isn't an ally it's either the 51st blue state or the 51st red state.
1
Yup. Welcome to America pal.
1
Obviously, Netanyahu opposes the Iranian nuclear deal. He disagreed at the inception of the agreement, and he continues with that stand. Netanyahu is fully aware of the May 12 deadline for the US to decide whether to stay or discontinue with the deal. Mr. Netanyahu is now capitalizing on the timing and wants to influence the US decision making process.
If there are flaws in the nuclear agreement, the best is for the US to address them, together with the other signatories and develop a supplement to the original agreement. This could always be reviewed periodically, until all parties are satisfied that Iran fulfills their obligations.
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Try doing something difficult: put yourself in the shoes of a leader whom you dislike. Netanyahu leads a country that's been at in full-scale war five times, and ongoing "little wars" in just 70 years. The Iranian regime, a fascist clerical dictatorship led by religious fanatics who have an end-of-days theology which posits the destruction of Israel as a key element, have been developing nuclear weapons along with intercontinental ballistic missiles. The "agreement" made with Iran (it is not a treaty and there are no signatories) has a sunset clause which means that Iran, which has been developing the means of producing fissionable material much faster, could become a nuclear power at the end. It's leaders have repeatedly called for Israel's annihilation. The trove of documents the Mossad brought back to Israel shows the Iranians were lying about their program until they couldn't lie any longer. It is an indication that they are not to be trusted -- and imagine that you are the leader whose country faces existential danger. The "flaws" you right describe aren't fixable, according to the Iranians. This means that only military action will remove the threat. Do you honestly believe a single European state -- all with long histories of and currently rising levels of Jew-hatred will lift a finger? Netanyahu's addressing himself to Trump & Co isn't about duping the idiot: it is understanding the US is the ONLY country that MAY oppose a second Holocaust.
4
The Iran deal says that Iran pledges to NEVER develop nuclear weapons. That's right, never. The fact that you don't know that is telling. The deal included Iran disposing of 98% of its fissionable materials and most of its tubes. The sunset clause is for the inspection regime, which can be renegotiated at the time. Everyone knew that Iran was lying when denying it had a nuclear weapons program...hence the reason for the deal. Please don't use the Holocaust as an excuse. Israel has many nuclear weapons already. Iran has none. Imagine you are the leader of Iran now. How would YOU feel about that situation?
1
"The White House did not assert that the files demonstrated that Iran was in violation of the 2015 agreement. But Ms. Sanders argued that the disclosures shed new light on the scope of Iran’s deceit — further undermining Mr. Obama’s case for making the deal."
Israel went into Iran, an act of war, to steal documents about the Iranian nuclear program, which don't show that they are violating the agreement. But Trump is still trying to use it to end the deal, which would put Iran back on track to a nuclear bomb.
We spent sixty years threatening North Korea. Every time we came close to a deal with them WE blew up the deal, and every time we got more belligerent, they doubled down on their program. The best example is last year, when Trump threatened to nuke the country, so they successfully tested both nukes and missiles.
Now the two Koreas are working together to cut a deal, and we seem to trying to blow it up.
John Bolton just said Kim should look at Libya as a guide to giving up it's program. Libya gave up its program and then we proceeded to regime change. Khadaffi got rid off his nukes and now he is dead. That's supposed to convince Kim? And Iran cut a deal and we are threatening to cancel it, and beat the drums of war against Iran continually. That's supposed to convince Kim?
It is past time for the USA to stop being an aggressive, belligerent county, always at war, and to start investing in our own communities and our own economy.
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I don't think anyone in the current administration nor any Republicans in Congress have a clue to what they need to fix in their own district or state to help the people who voted for them. Unless they only talk to donors, who must be wealthy or uneducated, and they don't care, either.
With all due respect, Obama and Clinton were at the helm when Gaddafi capitulated to US demands and signed his death warrant. Obama and Kerry were at the helm when the deal was made with Iran to "temporarily" halt its nuclear weapons program.
2
Agree with you completely, I could not have reasoned any better.
2
Whatever do "pretenses"--or even motivations--matter in formal agreements between countries?
Obviously, what matters almost solely is what is or is not done, and whether those actions are in accord with what was agreed. Treaties and other international agreements are aimed at regulating behavior, period.
Iran may or may not have been operating under the 'pretense' that it would somehow maintain a nuclear program. Well, the US clearly was operating under the equally evasive 'pretenses' that it would actually follow the terms of the agreement, and that it did not have the desire to undermine the Iranian regime completely. But who cares about these 'pretenses', really.
Iran is under an astonishing regime of inspection, one more severe than that ever before agreed to by a sovereign country. The current croud in Washington would love to find and announce Iranian non-compliance.
But there hasn't been a whiff of non-compliance. None.
22
The deal has become a campaign tv spot for Trump and an opportunity to undo anything Obama did.
That is a mistake
22
Maybe Europe should demand Israel give up is nuclear missiles if it it to support Iran's ban,
7
This is the groundwork to prepare for an invasion of Iran, which is Israel goal. Let's not get sucked into another war due to Israel's prodding. Israel was the only country consistently pressing for a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Europe should stay the course and keep steadfast to the Iran agreement. let the foolish Americans nix the agreement while Europe, Russia, and China reap the rewards of doing business with Iran, while simultaneously keeping its nuclear program in check. The :U.S. is turning itself into the outlier by holding hands with Israel. It is not in America's strategic interest to do so, but it fills politicians coffers with filthy lucre from donors with deep pockets.
34
We should take a moment remember the events leading up to the Iraq war...
George Bush stated that Israel should not get involved in this fight because they would stir up tensions in the Middle East. So what happened. Israel accomplished their goals by using American and NATO troops to Accomplish their mission. It cost them no money but it cost America and Europe plenty of Money & Blood... What going on now looks like a replay of Iraq.
When are Americans finally going to Wake Up.... It is time to take control of our foreign policy be a leader rather that a chump, manipulated by others with their own agenda.......
Wake Up America...
12
I'm not sure why I see so much support for Iran and so much hostility to Israel in the United States. What's left unsaid in the article is that Iran remains bellicose and assertive. Its presence in Syria has helped provide cover for the gassing of many innocents including children. It is clearly hoping to establish strong positions from which to strike Israel. The problem with the Obama administration deal is that it never took into consideration any of the other, non-nuclear negative and deadly consequences. That was probably true because it was a colonialist style negotiation that didn't even include the regional players most affected by Iran's behavior. Netanyahu and the US are right to undo those mistakes, work with other Middle Eastern countries, and keep the pressure on Iran. Let' support our Western, democratic ally instead of Iran and its many human rights abuses against women, gay people, and those who worship differently.
16
Netanyahu made the same case against Iraq in the run-up to the Iraq War as he is making now. A military conflict with Iran serves Israel and not US interests. Why should Israel have nuclear weapons and not Iran? Also, why shouldn't Iran have a missile defense since they are being threatened by the US.
Let's remember what Netanyahu said in 2002 as a rationale for the Iraq War;"“If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region…the test and the great opportunity and challenge is not merely to effect the ouster of the regime, but also transform that society and thereby begin too the process of democratizing the Arab world.”
He is not to be trusted.
36
This is not about supporting friends, it's about making the world safer. Two different things.
11
In order to make the world safer, Israel has to stop its constant attacks on Palestine and work in good faith for a peaceful relationship. Illegal settlements, economic blockades, assassinations, and military attacks that result in killing 1000 Palestinians non-combatants for every single Israeli have to stop.
11
A good international agreement between adversaries does not rely on trust, but on verification. Precisely as this one does. The point of the deal was that Iran is NOT an honest actor. The point of the deal was to help the more progressive Iranian government gain support domestically, which is crucial to Iran becoming a more friendly nation to the US. We do this by offering reprieve at the cost of the inspections. We do not trust them, that's kind of the point. Netanyahu is pulling the oldest play in the Middle Eastern book. His position and legacy are in jeopardy, so he points to his neighbors and screams "BUT WHAT ABOUT THEM!! ONLY I CAN PROTECT YOU FROM THEM!!" Because fear is one of the best ways to control public opinion. Children, the lot of them.
48
Another war based on false claims of yellow cake and aluminum tubes? Fool me once.......
93
“The White House did not assert that the files demonstrated that Iran was in violation of the 2015 agreement.”
Yet the White House looks like it is ready to go to war, along with Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran.
May want to look at Nikki Haleys’ close ties with pro-Israel billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Bolton wrote before the Iran deal that ‘"To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran." , outsourcing the job to Israel. Pompeo who would prefer regime change to diploamacy. The Saudis who want Iran oil off the market, so prices can rise. And now Netanyahus’ powerpoint speech to Trump. This is who Trump is getting his advice from. The same ones who were pushing for war in Iraq.
Continuous war, so MIC stock prices can rise and the bankers can profiteer.
The MIC will never allow peace since their stock prices would plummet. And the media loves a good war since it brings them viewers.
North Korean is fortunate that they do not have oil or is not a good pipeline pathway.
40
National leader widely suspected of lying about past crimes seeks same for long walks on beach and chance to destabilize delicate balance in Middle East.
41
The two most belligerent nations in the World - each with massive nuclear arsenals - that continually bomb, attack, invade, and occupy, other nations/peoples with impunity, are playing 'victim'.
How many deaths can irony die?
96
President Trump's press secretary talked about false pretenses based on Mr. Neytanyahu's dog and pony show. The American people, for some reason, to a large extent accept this puerile and dangerous reasoning.
There is only a few solutions to protect the public. Eligible citizens must vote in large numbers and elect people at all levels of government to bring progress not this antediluvian approach to running our country.
43
Europe go your own way and let America continue with our, go no-where, disastrous foreign polices. Interventionism from the US in the post war world has been almost abysmally unsuccessful, and no learning curve has been established from the failures.
91
Rampant anti-semitism in nearly every European capital (please see latest events in Berlin), a history of capitulation, the desire for investment in the historic Silk Road.
Yes Europe, go your own way.
5
"abysmally unsuccessful" for the stated purposes, but there has been a ton of money made by the military sector. There are dozens of CEOs who will tell you, off the record, that Washington's military agression has been outstandingly successful.
And this shameful war profiteering will continue so long as the media fail to connect the dots regarding the revolving door between the military contracting sector, the Pentagon and lobbyists that have given us an aggressive, endless war foreign policy, regardless of which party is in power.
20
Actually, the Marshall Plan was one of the most successful examples of US intervention in history.
10