So the agreement has been reached in Vienna, and I must say I have rather mixed feelings about it. I have read the full agreement, and I have issues with many items. I have no doubt that with a different negotiator America might have done better. That said the US was never going to get the agreement that Netanyahu wanted. This agreement does freeze the Iranian program for between 10-15 years, and does bring the break out time to a bomb from 3 months to a year. All good accomplishments. Its geopolitical implications however, are bad. The bottom line what was the alternative? Yes maybe a better negotiating team( certainly not Bibi based on his success in negotiating a coalition agreement)might of had a better outcome- but could anyone have gotten the Iranians to agree to a 25 year agreement instead of 15? Could anyone have gotten them to agree to immediate inspections of any and all of their military bases? I truly do not know. The moral implications of negotiating any agreement with the Iranian regime are problematic- but what was/is the alternative.
I do think that Israel will be making a mistake if it actively lobbies Congress. Whatever it wants to do quietly is fine, but I was very surprised by what Lapid said to me on the phone during the interview i had with him today.
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