Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this afternoon to the United Nations General Assembly, questioning the assurances being voiced in some corners of the foreign policy community that newly inaugurated Iranian president Hassan Rouhani was willing or able to alter what is widely believed to be an Iranian drive to acquire nuclear weapons. Netanyahu described Rouhani as a “loyal servant of the regime,” echoing statements made by Rouhani committing himself to following the dictats of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“We have a unified system called the Islamic Republic and are under the umbrella of the Islamic Republic of Iran government and one [Supreme Leader] and velayat-e fahigh and law.”
Rouhani served for decades as Khamenei’s personal representative to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in which capacity he played a key role in planning a wave of global terror attacks. Netanyahu’s speech came a day after a Monday meeting in Washington, DC with President Barack Obama, during which Obama reaffirmed that that the U.S. was keeping all options “including military options” on the table in its efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“It is absolutely clear that words are not sufficient,” Obama told Benjamin Netanyahu at the Oval Office. “We take no options off the table, including military options.” He added, “We enter into these negotiations very clear-eyed. They will not be easy, and anything we do will require the highest standards of verification in order for us to provide the sort of sanctions relief that I think they are looking for.”
Writing in Foreign Policy on the eve of the meeting, veteran diplomat Aaron David Miller dismissed suggestions that there was no daylight between Jerusalem and Washington, declaring that the West would strike a deal that satisfied both the U.S. and Israel “or there will be no deal at all.” The West has called on Iran to meet the multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on Tehran to dismantle its nuclear program. Iran will be expected at a minimum to cease uranium enrichment and plutonium-related work, to ship already enriched uranium overseas, and to open up military facilities like its Parchin installation, where Tehran is widely suspected of having conducted work relevant to nuclear detonations. National Security Adviser Susan Rice emphasized on Sunday that Iran would not be permitted to continue enriching uranium under any potential deal with the West.
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