Deal with Iran closer than ever, French newspaper reports

President Barack Obama’s critics believe he is keen on Iran deal as part of greater plan to strengthen ties with Iran and re-establish geostrategic balance in region • Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog calls Iran “a big threat” but not an existential one.

By Shlomo Cesana, Mati Tuchfeld and Boaz Bismuth, ISRAEL HAYOM

As the end of March deadline for nuclear negotiations approaches with no extension in sight, French newspaper Le Figaro reported Sunday that an American official said a nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran is “closer than ever.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Geneva on Sunday in another round of talks.

Le Figaro also referred to assertions made by U.S. President Barack Obama’s critics, including some who have worked for his administration, that he is keen on an Iran deal as part of a greater plan to strengthen ties with Iran and to re-establish the geostrategic balance in the region.

Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Doran, a former deputy assistant defense secretary and former National Security Council senior director, shares these thoughts.

“If, in Bushland, America had behaved like a sheriff, assembling a posse to go in search of monsters, in Obamaworld, America would disarm its rivals by ensnaring them in a web of cooperation,” he wrote in an article titled “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy” on Jewish issues website Mosaic.

On Sunday, the Iranian nuclear issue was discussed at the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, where Mossad chief Tamir Pardo said, “At this very moment, Iran is setting up terror infrastructure around the world. Iran’s terror activities are global [and not limited to Hezbollah].”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Iran is working towards arming itself with a nuclear weapon, the greatest threat to world peace. In addition to its fronts with Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, Iran is trying to open a third front in the Golan Heights using the thousands of Hezbollah fighters in southern Syria who report directly to Iran.”

Netanyahu repeated his promise to speak to the U.S. Congress and explain why the emerging Iran nuclear deal is “dangerous for Israel, dangerous for the region and dangerous for the entire world.”

Meanwhile, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog told the Washington Post in article published on Saturday that he trusted Obama on Iran, and that the Islamic republic’s nuclearization was “a big threat,” but not an existential one.

“I trust Obama to get a good deal,” Herzog told the newspaper. “I agree that a nuclear Iran is extremely dangerous, and I believe that it must be prevented. No Israeli leader will accept a nuclear Iran. All options for me are still on the table [including a military strike].”

However, Herzog made it clear that confronting Obama or Kerry were not options he intended to pursue, saying, “I would rather hold face-to-face talks and renew the trust that is necessary between the United States and Israel.”

Asked if Iran was an existential threat, he responded: “It is a big threat. That’s enough.” In a second question-answer piece published by the Washington Post, Herzog did not directly restate these opinions.

Likud officials were quick to attack Herzog’s oppositional stance.

“While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working night and day to explain the significance of the existential threat Iran poses to the State of Israel, [Herzog] is operating without security experience and out of cynical and political considerations, which harms Israel’s efforts to stop the Iranian threat,” a Likud statement said.