JERUSALEM The leader of Israels main opposition party said on Tuesday that he supports the United States and its international partners, the so-called P5+1, in their negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and he criticized current Israeli government officials for publicly attacking the Obama administration on the Iranian issue.I think the P5+1 are on top of it, Israels Labor Party leader Yizhak Herzog said in an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress. Herzog said he did not want to preempt the talks with Iran by laying out what he believed should be part of the final deal. Theres a lot of question marks, he said. Ill leave it open.
By contrast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu andother membersof his cabinet have been publicly outspoken in their displeasure with the United States and its talks with Iran. Netanyahu said the first step nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (the U.S., U.K, France, Russia, China and Germany) was a historic mistake and that, as part of the final agreement, he would accept nothing less than a full dismantling of Irans nuclear program, an option President Obama has said is not available.
The U.N.s nuclear watchdog reported last month that Iran is currentlyabiding by the termsof the interim agreement: reducing its enriched uranium stockpile and allowing expanded and more intrusive inspections at its nuclear facilities.
In my government, you will not hear criticism [of the U.S.] in the same way by our Defense Minister, Herzog said in a speech at anevent in Jerusalem on Tuesdayco-sponsored by the Center for American Progress andMolad, a progressive Israeli think-tank. The Labor Party leader was referring to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalons recent claim that the U.S. shows weakness around the world and suggested Israel will have to attack Iran on its own because he does not trust the U.S. to solve the nuclear situation.
You can argue but we wont embarrass, Herzog told ThinkProgress after his speech. Sometimes its out of control. Some of the comments by Yaalon probably were not approved by Netanyahu in advance. But this type of style of the bashes of the United States is wrong. Its outrageous.
Herzog said he is skeptical about Irans intentions. Everybody agrees that [Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei sets the tone. And so long as Khamenei sets the tone the basic notion is that there is no change, he said.
But he acknowledged that there is change happening in Iran and conflict within its leadership over the way forward. I for one believe that there is a sublime change. There is change in the fact that the leadership was forced to bring forward a moderate leader, he said. We know that perhaps there is some sort of internal conflict within the Iranian leadership on the nuclear program.
During a panel discussion on the Iranian nuclear program at the joint CAP-Molad event,Shlomo Brom, of the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, also said it was a big mistake for Netanyahu to criticize the interim nuclear deal with Iran. Brom, who is a retired Israeli Defense Forces Brigadier general, said that Netanyahu opposes the first step deal because it indicated that the final deal [Iran] will have the right to enrich uranium with some limitations.
But, Brom added, anyone who thinks Iran wont be allowed some kind of civilian enrichment capability with rigorous inspections as part of the final deal is deluding themselves. A reasonable deal, he said, will be one that extends the amount of time it takes for Iran to build a nuclear weapon should it decide to do so.
By Think Progress
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