Ian Patrick, FISM News
As the nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States draws closer to completion, Israel is attempting to shut it down.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has been reaching out to President Joe Biden to set up a meeting regarding Iran’s nuclear future. However, an emergency call from Israel to Biden on the matter was reportedly rebuffed.
Israel’s Channel 13 reported last week that the Israeli National Security Headquarters had been attempting to contact the White House to set up an emergency meeting on Iran. Their attempts to reach the U.S. president were essentially shot down with the message that Biden “is on vacation.”
Despite the hesitation in contact, Israeli officials say that a meeting between the two governments will be held sometime in the near future.
A Jerusalem Post report suggests that Lapid is hoping to meet with Biden during September’s United Nations General Assembly. Lapid is looking to meet with the President on September 20, the day Biden is set to address the Assembly.
Lapid has previously talked ill of the impending deal between Iran and the U.S. He said it “would give Iran a hundred billion dollars a year … that will be used to undermine stability in the Middle East and spread terror around the globe,” according to an FISM News report.
Yet, despite his hesitation with the deal and the West’s involvement in it, Lapid still signaled his support in signing a deal, just not this one.
Israel is not against any agreement. We are against this agreement – because it is a bad agreement; because it cannot be accepted as it is written now. In our eyes, it does not meet the standards that President Biden set: to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state. This agreement endangers The independence of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It creates political pressure to close the open files without completing a professional investigation.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has been preparing his nation to defend itself. Meeting with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on August 26, the two “discussed U.S. commitment to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and the need to counter threats from Iran and Iran-based proxies” according to a White House statement.
Gantz remarked on the importance for Israel to maintain defensive and offensive capabilities “regardless of the discussion surrounding the agreement.”