Israel took its campaign to ditch the deal with Iran to American media Friday with interviews on Fox News and MSNBC with a single message that Iran cannot be trusted.
That would not seem to be such big news or a surprise on the Israeli side of the Mediterranean Sea, but millions of Americans believe the Obama administration that they can count on Iran to allow monitoring of its nuclear faculties and research.
“The deal leaves Iran with an enormous and extensive nuclear infrastructure,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark told MSNBC. “It doesn’t close down, not even one uranium nuclear facility, not one.”
Regev added, “Why is Iran building intercontinental ballistic missiles? They’re not building them to attack Israel. They can do that. They are building intercontinental ballistic missiles to hit … targets in the United States. They’re a threat to you, too.
The biggest hole in the “key parameters” agreement with Iran is that issue of monitoring its nuclear facilities.
Regev told MSNBC:
We have seen, and I think you would probably agree with this, we have seen over the years monitoring is highly problematic when you’re dealing with authoritarian, totalitarian regimes committed to concealment. There’s a whole question what to inspect, where do you inspect, what do you know, what do you not know? And to base your defense, the defense of my country, the defense of the region, and the defense of the United States on inspectors when their value is at least questionable, we think is very precarious.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s warning to Congress last month not to make a “bad deal” with Iran was only the first and certainly not the last step in Israel’s attempt to convince legislators to overturn the arrangement with Iran.
Regev’s appearance on two major American television networks makes it clear to President Barack Obama that the Prime Minister is not concerned about their personal relationship and that Israel will exercise its right to try to change American foreign policy that direct affects the country.
Regev told Fox:
This agreement that is on the table puts a lot of emphasis on the issue of monitoring. But we all know that monitors when they work with authoritarian or totalitarian regimes that they play games with monitors.
We didn’t see monitors work, not in Iraq, we didn’t see them work in Syria; we didn’t see them work in Libya… Monitors cannot work effectively with an authoritarian regime.
It’s an abasement agreement on monitors. ‘Come in and look. ‘ Where are they going look? What – is the Iranian regime really going to allow them to go anywhere they want to go? I doubt it very much.’