According to Amos Harel, a columnist for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, an informal agreement has been reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and Iran. This agreement is said to leave Iran on the brink of nuclear weapon capabilities while restricting Israel’s autonomy in protecting its interests.
As previously reported by Breitbart News, the U.S., and Iran were nearing an informal “mini-deal”. This deal included Iran halting its uranium enrichment at 60%, significantly below the 90% needed for a bomb, along with the release of U.S. hostages and adherence to other conditions. In exchange, the U.S. would not impose further sanctions, oppose Iran’s access to its frozen assets, or seek additional action against Iran in the United Nations.
Though this “mini deal” seemed to have hit a snag with the suspension of U.S. envoy Robert Malley, suspected of being lenient towards Iran, Harel suggests that the deal is moving forward. He posits that the U.S. is intentionally refraining from formalizing the agreement to avoid Republican backlash in Congress.
Harel claims that under this U.S. initiative, Iran has agreed to keep uranium enrichment below 60%, and the U.S. has stopped objecting to releasing Iranian assets worth $20 billion in banks worldwide. Mutual prisoner exchanges have also taken place. Iran seems to have either slowed down or halted high-level uranium enrichment. Brett McGurk, Biden’s National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is said to orchestrate this compromise effort.
Simultaneously, Harel argues that the U.S. pressures Israel not to act unilaterally against Iran. The U.S. has outwardly supported joint military exercises, hinting at a cooperative attack capability against Iran. However, it seems to be the U.S.’ expectation that Israel will not launch a surprise strike against Iran.
Despite bipartisan Israeli support for maintaining this option, this tactic is viewed as an attempt to curtail Israel’s capacity to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear. Moreover, Harel suggests that the Biden administration’s apparent hostility towards Israel, including support for protests against judicial reform, is less about domestic Israeli issues and more about undermining the Israeli military and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s legitimacy.
Harel sees Biden’s actions as a strategy to limit Israel’s independent action. An official invitation was extended to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, a largely ceremonial figure, to visit the White House, while Netanyahu was noticeably excluded. Harel speculates that this new “Iran deal” may already be operative without Senate approval, similar to the previous agreement.
Harel further contends that this shift in policy is changing the direction of curbing Iran’s nuclear program to preventing them from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which may have been Biden’s goal all along. As such, he suggests that Biden creates conditions that will leave Iran one step away from becoming a nuclear-armed state.
