Israel disheartened by Biden’s caution on Iran talks

Read More

Both Israel’s government and its defense establishment are increasingly disappointed by America’s approach to resuming negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

The two countries failed once again to bridge the differences in their positions at last week’s strategic dialogue in Washington, led by both countries’ national security advisers. Even though the talks were officially described as positive and useful, there is no agreement between the parties on what to do.

Israel has recommended that the Biden administration prepare a Plan B for what it will do if the Iranians continue to refuse to talk. Preliminary contacts about resuming the talks have been going on sporadically ever since U.S. President Joe Biden was inaugurated in January, though they were suspended over the summer due to Iran’s presidential election, which was won by the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi.

How Netanyahu’s Polish pandering paved the way for the restitution crisis

Specifically, Israel wants Washington to prepare plans for additional onerous sanctions on Iran, given Tehran’s continued violations of the limits imposed on it by the original 2015 nuclear deal. But the administration is unenthusiastic about that idea. Biden’s aides haven’t indicated any intention of pressuring Iran directly and openly, or of staging a military show of force in the Middle East – another idea Israel thinks is worth considering.

Nevertheless, Israeli defense officials said the Americans have at least become more sympathetic to Israeli intelligence analyses of the progress of Iran’s nuclear program.

At a farewell meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who arrived in Israel on Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel must make sure through actions that Iran never obtains nuclear weapons. He warned that Iranian “bullying” in the region will only get worse if Tehran gets the bomb.

In Israel, Merkel says next weeks will be ‘decisive’ for Iran nuclear talks

Israeli officials to urge ‘painful’ sanctions from Biden if Iran abandons nuke talks

Jordan reopens main crossing with Syria in push to end its pariah status

Merkel said the coming weeks would be decisive for the Iranian issue, adding that the Iranian threat must be taken seriously and that everything must be done to ensure that Iran doesn’t get nuclear weapons. To this end, she said, it was vital to resume direct negotiations with Tehran.

Warming Syria-Jordan ties

Although, it hasn’t yet received much attention in Israel, the last few weeks have seen signs of a reconciliation between Syria and Jordan, following a decade of hostility that began with the outbreak of Syria’s civil war. For years, Syrian President Bashar Assad refused to forgive King Abdullah of Jordan for speaking out publicly against the crimes perpetrated by the Syrian regime and even giving support to some of the rebel organizations.

Jordan’s turnaround is apparently connected to broader developments in the region – a drawdown of American forces in Syria, Washington’s declining interest in the Middle East and the increasing strength of the Shi’ite axis, of which Syria is part. All this has helped prompt Amman’s growing signs of willingness to turn over a new leaf with its northern neighbor.

Abdullah and Assad spoke by phone a week ago, after the former visited Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. There was also a phone call between Syria’s defense minister and Jordan’s chief of staff. This week, the first Jordanian flight in a long time is slated to land in Damascus.

Moscow is interested in repairing the relationship as part of its effort to reshape the situation in southern Syria following a rise in the number of violent incidents there this year. Sunni rebels have recently stepped up their attacks on Assad’s army, especially in the Daraa region, where the revolt against Assad began in March 2011. Jordan is worried by the situation along its Syrian border as well.

The plan is to resume trade via the two countries’ border crossings, which would also enable Syrian goods to travel through Jordan to the Gulf States. The two countries also recently discussed sending natural gas from Egypt to Syria and Lebanon via a Jordanian pipeline.

A truck drives through Jaber border crossing with Syria, near Mafraq, Jordan, Sept. 29, 2021.Alaa Al Sukhni/Reuters

Israel, which in the past called for toppling Assad in light of the massive slaughter and other atrocities his regime has committed, has effectively abandoned this stance since the Russians restored the dictator’s control of southern Syria. Israel’s main goal in southern Syria is to get the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Shi’ite militias and Hezbollah operatives out.

Bennett and Abdullah met in Jordan in late June as part of an effort to bolster bilateral ties following a serious crisis in relations toward the end of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s term. Even if Israel isn’t enthusiastic about the Jordanian-Syrian rapprochement, it probably won’t try to interfere with it.