The biggest news to come out of this week’s G7 summit in France was President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is willing to meet with his Iranian counterpart.

That is causing alarm in Israel which may stop at nothing to sabotage any thaw.

G7 host President Emmanuel Macron had secretly invited Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the summit in Biarritz, an initiative to kickstart diplomacy.

“What I hope is that in coming weeks, based on these talks, we can manage to see a summit between President Rouhani and President Trump,” the French leader said.

Trump acknowledged that the sanctions his administration reimposed on Iran after the US reneged on the 2015 nuclear deal “are absolutely hurting them.”

Rouhani has poured cold water on meeting Trump before the lifting of US sanctions that are causing – as they are intended to do – intense suffering to ordinary Iranians.

“We are interested in solving problems in a reasonable way, but we’re not interested in taking photos,” Rouhani said in a televised speech.

“The key to changing the relationship is in Washington’s hands.”

Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal last year and imposed devastating sanctions on Iran at the prodding of warmongering officials like his National Security Adviser John Bolton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have also been agitating for escalated confrontation with Iran.

Trump not seeking regime change

“US and Israeli planners despise Iran principally because it is an independent regional power,” analyst Greg Shupak wrote for The Electronic Intifada in June.

“It has a strong military and a foreign policy that includes providing material support for armed Palestinian resistance to Israel and for Hizballah’s defense of Lebanon from US-Israeli aggressions.”

Yet this does not mean the US will necessarily always give Israel a free hand.

Despite the Trump administration’s virtually unconditional embrace of Israel, there have been hints of tension between the two allies: The Pentagon is admonishing Israel for recent air attacks against Iranian-supported militias in Iraq.

Whether Trump’s willingness to deal differently with Iran reflects anything more than one of his habitual mood swings remains to be seen.

It is notable however that Trump has said regime change in Iran is not his policy.

“We’re not looking for leadership change, we’re not looking for that kind of change,” Trump said at his joint press conference with Macron on Monday.

“This country’s been through that many times before. That doesn’t work.”

This view is at sharp odds with advisers like Bolton who definitely want the US to pursue the kind of catastrophic regime change in Iran that Washington has been pursuing for decades all over the globe.

Israeli alarm

What is not in doubt is Israel’s alarm at the chance of any warming between the US and Iran.

“We have no interest in talks between the US and Iran, but our ability to influence Trump or confront him on this issue is pretty limited,” an unnamed Israeli cabinet minister told Ravid.

“We were very lucky that until now the Iranians rejected all of Trump’s proposals for talks,” another senior Israeli official said.

Ravid speculates that a Trump-Rouhani meeting could take place at next month’s UN General Assembly in New York.

“Trump, Rouhani and Macron are all expected to attend,” he notes. “Netanyahu, meanwhile, might not be at the annual meeting because it falls 10 days after Israel’s elections.”

Trita Parsi, a longtime proponent of US-Iran diplomacy who is now with the Washington think tank the Quincy Institute, suggested that Israel was stepping up its bombing attacks in the region in order to scupper such talks.

Israel may “foment chaos”

That view is backed by Israeli analyst Amos Harel who says Trump’s readiness to talk to the Iranians would be a “strategic change in direction” entirely at odds with Israeli policy.

According to Harel, Netanyahu hoped that US withdrawal from the nuclear deal “would lead to harsh sanctions followed by a renewed deterioration in Iran’s economic situation (as did in fact happen), and later, even to the collapse of the regime – or Iranian surrender to the tough dictates of the West regarding a new nuclear agreement.”

But, Harel adds, “these hopes are not coming true.”

Netanyahu’s effort to counter Trump’s diplomacy, Harel warns, may be “to foment chaos throughout the Middle East.”

Perhaps there’s no stronger evidence that Israel thrives on division and conflict than its reaction to prospects for renewed diplomacy between Washington and Tehran.

If such diplomacy stands any chance, it will have to survive what is sure to be a full-scale and dangerous assault from Israel and its American lobby.

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• Javad Zarif
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Comments

Diplomacy

Permalink Frank Dallas replied on Wed, 08/28/2019 - 11:24

Remember that in March 1948 Warren Austin, the US Ambassador to the UN said "The USA position is that the partition of Palestine is no longer a viable option." Why didn't that hold? Because the Zionist lobby put pressure on Truman and he feared the loss of votes. Trump is susceptible. He shifts in every wind and can be easily influenced. No doubt there will be insistent pressure in the US. Trump is likely to stick to his position and meet Rouhani only if he is convinced there will be no electoral price to pay. Or even something to gain. Macron's wily move in bringing Zarif to Biarritz has wrong-footed Trump, but Bolton will try to push him away from diplomacy. That and the Zionist lobby may quickly bring a change.
What Trump needs to be convinced of is that talking to Rouhani is what most Americans want. There isn't majority support in the US for an Iraq type attack and regime change. There needs to be a quick and effective grassroots campaign in support of the idea that America's best interests are served by talking to Rouhani. The best way to do this is to stress that its opponents are pushing in the direction of military intervention. The argument has to be that the US can't afford in any way to get embroiled in another Iraq, another "dumb war", and the only sensible alternative is to talk. Persuading Trump to drop his threatening, strong-man rhetoric, making him understand that Iran can be a stabalising force in the region if its leaders are treated with respect and its people relieved of the appalling consequences of the sanctions, is probably too much to expect. But to nudge him to talks, through a surge of public opinion, is perfectly possible. The media can't be relied on. It has to come from independent, grassroots initiative. If Truman had stuck to Warren Austin's position, how much horror and suffering could the Middle East have been spared? The Zionists and the media were allowed to deceive the US people. That must not happen now.

I wholeheartedly agree. I

Permalink Eileen Kuch replied on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 18:31

I wholeheartedly agree. I wouldn't put it past Israeli PM Bibzy Nutty&Yahoo to create chaos in the Mideast region in an attempt to sabotage DJT's plans for negotiations with his Iranian counterpart, President Rouhani, over issues such as keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for ships to pass to and from other ports and to de-escalate tensions in the entire region. Nutty&Yahoo's noted for creating chaos just to cover up his own corruption scandals and remain in power.
However, DJT's no dummy; he's been negotiating with the Iranians behind the scenes for some time now without Israel's knowledge, and I hope he continues to do so. It's in America's interest.