Why Netanyahu is Wrong About Iran Nuclear Deal

This is an excerpt from the op-ed that appeared on the Christian Science Monitor website. Visit here for the full article.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that this weekend’s nuclear deal with Iranincreases Iran’s chances of building nuclear weapons. He’s exactly wrong—so much so that nuclear weapons advocates in Tehran are probably hoping that Israel and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf succeed in sabotaging the agreement.

Why? Because with this deal in place, it will be much harder for them to make their case that Iran should tear up its agreements and build a nuclear bomb. If the parties manage to reach a larger final agreement next year, the obstacles facing Iran’s bomb advocates might become nearly insuperable.

Up to this point, many in Iran—including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to some of his statements—have believed the nuclear issue is just a pretext for US determination to overthrow Iran’s Islamic regime. The constant tightening of sanctions and repeated threats of military force, in this view, were meant to undermine the Iranian government itself, and would not end if Iran agreed to constrain its nuclear efforts.....