The U.S. State Dept. fumbled a golden opportunity Thursday to ask, beg or insist that Iran stop threatening to wipe Israel off the map.
Indian Globe reporter Raghubir Goyal asked State Dept. spokesman John Kirby:
In the past, Iranian president said that Israel will be wiped off the world map. Are they going to turn back this and – this as far as this renouncing Israeli – Israel’s existence?
Kirby asked, for clarification, “Who going to turn back what?,” and Goyal, as he is called in Washington, asked again, until he was cut off, “If they are going to denounce terrorism and also what they said in the past that Israel will be wipe –”
Kirby answered by not answering:
Will Iran? Well, I think you’d have to – I mean, that’s a question for Iran’s leaders.
It would seem that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry never asked Iran during the marathon talks with Iran if the Islamic Republic might at least tone down, just for a bit of good public relations, its constant threat to annihilate Israel, as was reiterated on the eve of the agreement.
But Kirby reassured everyone that the United States is “not going to turn a blind eye to Iran’s other destabilizing activities in the region, to include the state sponsorship of terrorists and terrorist networks. Nothing’s going to change about our commitment to continuing to press against those kinds of activities through a broad range of methods, whether it’s our unilateral sanctions, UN sanctions which will stay in effect, or U.S. military presence in the region.”
He is right. The United States is not turning a blind eye to Iranian terror. It is looking at it straight in the eye and figuring it will go away by freeing up to $150 billion for Iran.
President Barack Obama said at his press conference Wednesday night:
Do we think that with the sanctions coming down, that Iran will have some additional resources for its military and for some of the activities in the region that are a threat to us and a threat to our allies? I think that is a likelihood that they’ve got some additional resources. Do I think it’s a game-changer for them? No.
They are currently supporting Hezbollah, and there is a ceiling — a pace at which they could support Hezbollah even more, particularly in the chaos that’s taking place in Syria.
Out of $150 billion, President Obama says Iran will have “some” additional funds. Then he assumes there is a “ceiling” of how much Iran can support Hezbollah.
ObamaDeal raised the ceiling sky-high.
But President Obama is not worried that Iran will “only” pocket “some” of $150 billion to wipe out Israel, which makes its procurement of a nuclear weapon less urgent.
The video below. at 0:42 seconds, shows Goyal and Kirby’s exchange: