Israel fears nuclear talks with Iran could prevent unilateral military strike

By Madison Ruppert:

For those who have not been following the situation with Iran closely – especially how Israel fits in – it might be somewhat surprising to learn that Israel is not all too interested in negotiating with Iran.

One might assume that Israel would want a peaceful resolution so both countries can leave in peace without a drop of blood shed in the name of stopping an alleged nuclear weapons program.

That assumption would be dead wrong, as Israel has completely ignored the fact that both U.S. intelligence agencies and U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta have said Iran does not have nukes and instead declared that talks with Iran are a “trap.”

Indeed, somehow they continue to act antagonistically towards Iran even when their own military chief admitted that Iran has not decided to begin developing nuclear weapons.

In what might be a shocking article for some, Barak Ravid wrote for Haaretz, “Israel views the talks, set to take place on May 23 in Baghdad, with some bitterness, perhaps even with hopes that they will fail completely.”

Recently information – much of which has so little credibility that even calling it “information” is a bit of a stretch – has surfaced which supposedly indicates that Iran is indeed pursuing nuclear weapons.

One such piece of information came from the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), better known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a terrorist group which has been trained by the Israeli Mossad and the United States.

Another bit of information – which should be taken with a large grain of salt – came from the Associated Press, which allegedly showed an Iranian military nuclear testing site.

The glaring problem is that Israel is taking an unreasonable, hard-line approach to Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unequivocally stated that they expect Iran to close every single uranium enrichment facility and, even more ludicrous, ship every last bit of nuclear fuel out of the country.

Similarly, the United States will reportedly demand similar massive concessions from the Iranians during the negotiations.

It appears, according to Ravid, that the world powers – the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain – are set to come to an “intermediate agreement” with Iran.

Supposedly this type of agreement would allow Iran to continue to enrich uranium to the level of 20%, which Ravid erroneously claims is “approaching the levels for a nuclear weapon,” when in reality it is nowhere near weapons-grade.

However, such an agreement would supposedly force Iran to stop enriching uranium in their underground facility at Fordo, and they also might be forced to dispose of 100 kilograms of enriched uranium already in their possession.

Iran would then have some of the harsh international sanctions currently imposed on them lifted. However, it is unclear if the European Union’s oil embargoes and the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s central bank – both of which are set to go into effect July 1 – will remain in place.

Interestingly, Ravid claims that the agreement would also involve Iran receiving a shipment of nuclear fuel rods in order to power their nuclear power generation facilities.

The Israeli government is clearly unhappy with any sort of agreement which would hold them back from engaging in a unilateral military strike if they so desired.

“The powers must demand that any deal accepted by Iran will include a stop in progress on Iran’s nuclear capability,” said Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak in an interview with Army Radio.

His position is clearly aligned with Netanyahu’s: no nuclear technology in Iran. Period.

Even though they are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – which Israel is not part of – Israel would like to see them treated as a second-class signatory with less rights than the others.

“If the demands are expressed in the minimalistic manner which we suspect, Iran could agree to all of them, and still be able to continue progressing toward a nuclear weapon. In such a case these talks will not help in stopping Iran,” Barak claimed.

However, this position is based on nothing other than pure fantasy, as in reality there is no indication whatsoever that Iran has even decided to begin working towards a nuclear weapon.

Barak elucidated his hard-line approach, which is wholly laughable seeing as Israel has an unchecked nuclear arsenal and is not a signatory to the NPT, in saying, “Enrichment to 3.5% must be stopped, and all uranium, or almost all uranium already enriched to 3.5% must be taken out of Iran, so that after the talks, Iran will not be able to continue toward its goal of a nuclear weapon.”

“If less than those demands are made at the start, China and Russia will dilute them further… the result would be too little, and won’t accomplish the goal, leaving the issue completely unresolved. I’m afraid that that’s the situation,” Barak added.

“As far as we know, there has been no strategic decision among Iranian leadership to change directions on the nuclear program. The recent positive statements made by Iran are meant to create an impression of moderation and a bolster relations with the world powers, but there is no real fundamental change in Teheran,” claimed an unnamed Israeli official.

Once again, this position is based on nothing but pure imagination. This delusional approach being taken by the Israeli government will likely prove to be more destructive than the non-existent Iranian nuclear weapons program.

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