Since the text of the MoU was published, the talks that were started in Lucerne, Switzerland between the Iranian delegation, led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Araqchi and, on the American side, by Vice-President JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, with Pakistani and Qatari mediation, have experienced a bumpy ride and were nearly broken off, but good sense prevailed and they have continued and seem to have made considerable progress. Iran’s top negotiators have departed Switzerland after what they have called “encouraging” progress in the talks.
As anticipated, Israeli leaders did their best to undermine and even block the agreement. Israel, which started the two wars against Iran and dragged the United States into them, was not even consulted in the preparation of the MoU, but was just sent a copy of it after it was agreed between the United States and Iran. Almost immediately, Netanyahu announced that Israel would occupy Lebanon “indefinitely”. Israeli forces killed at least 47 people in Lebanon on Saturday and at least a further eight on Sunday. According to BBC Verify, during one attack in South Lebanon in recent weeks, Israeli forces killed at least 361, mainly civilians.
Their excuse was that Hezbollah forces had attacked Israeli troops first, forgetting that Israeli forces are operating inside Lebanon illegally, and according to Israeli officials, have expressed their wish to occupy and annex Southern Lebanon, up to the Litani River and even beyond. They carried out the plan to occupy Lebanon even before Hezbollah existed. In fact, Hezbollah was created in the wake of Israel’s savage attacks on Lebanon by Ariel Sharon in 1982, killing at least 17,000 innocent Lebanese and Palestinians and ending with the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Chatilla camps.
Since the US brokered a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel on 2nd March, Israeli forces have killed at least 4,000 people in Lebanon, devastated a large part of the country, including in Beirut, and displaced over one million people. As usual, their interpretation of the ceasefire has been “you cease, we fire.”
Professor Norman Finkelstein, a leading scholar of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has described the current Israeli government as a “zombie killing machine.” Given the behaviour of the Israeli government since the start of the genocide in Gaza, this is a correct definition. This is the behaviour of a murderous, rogue regime which is totally out of control and determined to prevent an agreement between the United States and Iran.
Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli PM, has also accused Benjamin Netanyahu of leading a “criminal gang” which “has set a precedent without equal in Israel’s history.” And that “short of extermination, government policy carried out indiscriminate killing of civilians and denied them food and medicine…This was done with vicious and malicious intent. Israel is committing war crimes. It is time to halt.” Ehud Olmert concluded, “Enough is enough!”
This is why Iran insisted that the issue of Lebanon should be the first topic discussed in the MoU, emphasising Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This was not meant only as a way to protect Lebanon, but as a test of the US’s reliability. After all, Trump crashed out of a landmark agreement which Iran had signed with the Obama administration and with the UN Security Council, and has attacked Iran twice with Israel in the middle of negotiations, causing enormous damage to Iran. During the second war, American and Israeli military strikes on Iran are estimated to have killed more than 4,000 Iranians, including its leader and a large number of civilian and military officials, destroyed and damaged more than 120,000 residential and commercial units and caused the country losses amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars. So, it is quite obvious that Iranians do not trust the current US government and want to have tangible evidence that it will live up to its latest promises.
Trump’s recent behaviour has again shown his erratic behaviour and has left a lot to be desired. On 21st June, when his vice-president, his golfing partner and his son-in-law were busy negotiating with Iranians in Lucerne about one of the most consequential and important agreements, not only for the United States but for the whole world, Trump again showed his amazing diplomatic skills and nearly wrecked the talks.
Writing on his Truth Social, he stated:
“The only Thing I love more than negotiating with Iran is BOMBING THE SHIT out of Iran. Our negotiations are going beautifully, but if they don’t go much better immediately, I will ANNIHILATE THE IRANIAN REGIME from the Face of the Earth. Your Favorite President’s bombs are Much Bigger than Iran’s Highly Enriched Tahdig. I ain’t playing, son.
-NOT JDT”
This is not the language of a responsible president whose words the world can trust. After this amazing outburst, the Iranian delegation threatened to leave the talks, but good sense prevailed, and the talks continued.
It should be remembered that Trump’s agreement to a ceasefire with Iran was not an act of charity, but a desperate measure out of necessity. His military commanders had told him that there was no military solution to the conflict with Iran, and that the continuation of the war would further devastate the Middle East and lead to an economic meltdown. The American strategic petroleum reserves are at their lowest level since 1983, and the United States has enough petroleum only to last for another four to six weeks. Some other countries of the world are in an even worse shape. If the Strait of Hormuz is not opened immediately and oil shipments are not resumed, the entire global economy could face an acute crisis resulting in global depression. This is why it is important that, despite the initial bumps, the talks continue and achieve solid results.
The MoU has opened a major rift between US and Israeli officials over Israel’s attempts to sabotage the deal. In an unprecedented rebuke to Netanyahu, Vice-President Vance referenced the billions in defence aid Israel receives from the US, pointing out that a large part of the military equipment that Israel uses is made by American hands and paid for by US taxpayers. He reminded Netanyahu that Trump was Israel’s only ally left in the world: “My message to them would be twofold. No 1: Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.” He continued: “The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”
The situation in the world is so serious that Netanyahu should not be allowed to push the world over a cliff. America should put American interests first, and the Israelis should be told that enough is enough.
F Jahanpour 