Before We Storm Capitol Hill (RE: Iran nuclear agreement)
The importance of the agreement reached in Vienna is not only in the detailed arrangements aimed at blocking Iran's way to a military nuclear weapon in the coming decade, but also – and that's as important – in the fact that the document was also signed by Russia and China.
This is a rare moment in the complicated relationship between the United States and Tehran's two pronounced friends and main weapons providers. Iran isn't the only country which made concessions in the tough negotiations that were held until the very last moment. Moscow and Beijing committed to it too.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to muster the required majority in the US Congress against the agreement. US President Barack Obama has already announced that he plans to veto such a decision, which would cause the agreement to collapse and erase all the concessions made by Iran.
Without an agreement, Iran will be free to do as it pleases, while the sanctions regime will crumble anyway, as many of the world's countries will rush to Tehran to sign profitable contracts. The US will then lose its influence over the situation in the 18 months left until the end of Obama's term, its leadership will be castrated and humiliated, while Israel will only remain with the independent military option. That's what British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond referred to when he said that Netanyahu is not interested in any agreement with Iran, regardless of its content.
Hammond's impression is gaining strength in light of the major changes taking place in the Israeli strategy these days. At first, Israel maintained that the Iranian threat is a unique, existential threat which must be dealt with separately. The entire international community teamed up for this purpose, and that was the only goal of the biting sanctions against Iran. Israel had its work done by others. After all, it wasn't Israeli sanctions which forced Iran to report to the negotiations. Israel wanted others to do what was required, and they did.
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http://www.i24news.tv/en/opinion/79642-150725-before-israel-storms-capitol-hill
