Over 5,000 retired Israeli military officers and former security officials have signed an open letter to US President Joe Biden urging him not to sign the new nuclear agreement with Iran.
“Based on our collective experience and assessment, we believe that this deal is catastrophic for American, Israeli and global peace and security for a broad range of reasons,” the letter said.
Authored by the Israel Defense and Security Forum, the letter includes senior officers from all branches of Israel’s armed forces and from security and law-enforcement agencies, researchers, academics and others.
Some of the signatories include retired generals Amir Avivi, Gershon Hacohen, Yossi Bachar, Kamil Abu Rokon, Yossi Kuperwasser, Avigdor Kahalani and Tzvika Haimovitch, among others.
“Based on our collective experience and assessment, we believe that this deal is catastrophic for American, Israeli and global peace and security for a broad range of reasons.”
Letter to Biden
According to the forum, which describes itself as being dedicated to “ensuring that Israel’s security in the homeland of the Jewish people is never taken for granted,” a revived deal gives Iran a “clear legal pathway” to obtaining nuclear weapons by 2031 and does not give the signatories any tools to stop it.
“The deal will unleash a regional nuclear arms race, in which countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states will be forced to either develop or acquire nuclear weapons to mitigate the Iranian threat. Sectarian and religious war will likely be triggered,” the letter warned.
The deal “will deliver a windfall of previously frozen funds to the Islamic Republic of Iran, funds that will undoubtedly be used to export terror and instability throughout the region and beyond, at an unprecedented scale, with the addition of a future nuclear umbrella as a force multiplier.”
Israel is opposed to a return to a 2015 deal that lifted sanctions by the West on Tehran in return for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
What the damage of lifting sanctions on Iran will do
Although Iran is currently facing significant economic difficulties, by lifting the economic sanctions, Tehran will be able to not only increase the work on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs but it will be able to continue with its plans of regional hegemony and inject more funds into its proxies to carry out attacks throughout the Middle East and against Israel.
While Western powers including the US continue on the diplomatic path hoping to bring Tehran to sign a new deal, the Americans are fully aware of Jerusalem’s concerns about a future deal.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday for the first time since a new draft of the Iran nuclear deal was put forward, as the coordinator of the talks said that an agreement could be days away.
According to a readout of the call, Lapid’s office said the two “spoke at length about the negotiations on a nuclear agreement and their shared commitment to stopping Iran’s progress towards a nuclear weapon.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz went to Washington and Florida last week, where he held several meetings with senior American officials regarding the deal.
He also met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, telling him that Israel “needs” Washington to ensure it has a credible military option, and that he received “good hints” about America having a working offensive plan against Iran.
Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.