Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed “nothing new” in his dramatic briefing on “Iran’s secret nuclear files,” according to foreign policy advisers from former President Barack Obama’s administration.
“For those who have followed the Iranian nuclear file, there is nothing new in [Netanyahu’s] presentation,” Robert Malley, a former National Security Council senior director who helped negotiate the Iran deal, tweeted Monday. “All it does is vindicate need for the nuclear deal.”
Netanyahu displayed documents that he said were stolen by Israeli intelligence officials from Tehran, providing a window into the regime’s illicit nuclear weapons research. The cache showed that Iran had lied to Western powers after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as to international monitors responsible for overseeing compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, about the nature and extent of its nuclear weapons program.
“Of course Iran lied in the past about its nuclear program,” Ilan Goldenberg, who was a top Iran policy adviser for the Pentagon during Obama’s first term and a lead aide for Israeli-Palestinian issues at the State Department in his second term, concurred. “That is precisely WHY we have the JCPOA which does not just take them at their word but puts in place one of the deepest most intrusive inspections regime in history. We had a nuclear crisis which required the JCPOA and imposition of sanctions & tough limits on Iran’s nuclear program precisely because of the lying. So evidence that they lied & had a nuclear program is nothing new.”
Netanyahu emphasized during the unveiling of the documents at the Israeli Ministry of Defense that the archive shows Iran lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency when the deal was first implemented.
“This was an explicit condition for implementing the nuclear deal: Iran has to come clean,” he said. “The Iran deal, the nuclear deal, is based on lies. It’s based on Iranian lies and Iranian deception.”
Trump has to decide if he will continue to grant Iran the sanctions relief provided under the deal by May 12, the deadline under federal law for him to renew or scrap the sanctions waivers. He has threatened to withdraw from the pact unless European allies agree to tighten restrictions on the regime’s ability to enrich uranium, develop ballistic missiles, and project power in the Middle East.
“That is just not an acceptable situation,” Trump said. “I’m not telling you what I’m doing, but a lot of people think they know. And on or before the 12th we’ll make a decision.”
Netanyahu, who lobbied Congress to block the deal in the face of Obama’s efforts, exuded confidence. “I’m sure he’ll do the right thing,” the prime minister said.
Malley, the former Iran deal negotiator, likewise suspects that Trump’s decision is predictable. “[T]he Israeli prime minister has an audience of one: Trump,” he tweeted.
