Washington, DC – The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) released the following statement from NIAC President Jamal Abdi regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House today, which comes as the administration is reportedly preparing to institute some form of “maximum pressure” sanctions pressure on Iran:
Back to top“Benjamin Netanyahu has played every single modern U.S. president to act against American interests and likes to boast, ‘I know America, America is a thing that can be moved easily’. Only time will tell whether Trump will succeed in his efforts to end and prevent wars and be a dealmaker in the Middle East, or if Bibi will move Trump into a war with Iran that will torpedo his presidency and ensure another generation of American military adventures.
“It was Bibi who worked with American neoconservatives to develop the ‘Clean Break’ strategy during the Clinton years that envisioned decades of wars and occupations across the Middle East, beginning with Iraq. He put that strategy in motion under Bush, when Bibi strongly advocated for the war and guaranteed to Congress that an American invasion of Iraq ‘will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.’
“It was Bibi who worked with Iran war hawks to sabotage U.S. diplomacy while Obama was negotiating a nuclear deal to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon and put the U.S. on course to draw down troops from the region. After Trump took office, it was Bibi bragged privately that it was he who convinced Trump to pull out of the Iran deal and ensured the U.S. would never solve the nuclear challenge peacefully.
“And Biden’s presidency was tanked, in no small part, by his administration’s failure to stand up to Netanyahu and instead enabled the genocide in Gaza. Biden failed for months to get Netanyahu to agree to a U.S.-proposed ceasefire that took Trump’s team just one day to secure – because Trump’s team actually stood up to Bibi. This should be instructive for the new administration’s path forward.
“Today, Trump has a rare and historic opportunity for peace – if he stands up to Bibi. He has a chance to stabilize the Middle East and do what his predecessors tried and failed to accomplish: ending the forever wars that have bogged down the U.S. and American troops in the region for a generation. Or, he could bow to Bibi and allow the U.S. to be dragged into a catastrophic regional war that would torpedo his presidency and America’s interests. Netanyahu and fellow hawks will surely welcome the ‘return’ of the so-called ‘maximum pressure’ approach on Iran – even though it never went away – and work to ensure that it is implemented as harshly as possible to drive Iran away from the negotiating table and push the U.S. and Iran toward a disastrous war.
“The lynchpin for historic change in the region does not begin with a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia – two countries that are not in conflict. We have witnessed over the last several years how organizing the Israelis and Arabs around conflict with Iran and ignoring the plight of Palestinians exploded into a conflagration that has killed unthinkable numbers of civilians from all sides.The real lynchpin for historic change begins with an agreement to finally deescalate with Iran and begin to integrate the region to focus on prosperity, not military conflict. A nuclear agreement with Iran is the first step, and something Trump has said he wants to pursue. However, Bibi is working at cross purposes to prevent this from ever happening because he is dependent on an Iranian boogeyman to keep the U.S. military bogged down in the Middle East. Bibi needs Iran to remain as the forever spoiler to justify U.S. forever wars in the region.
“If Donald Trump wants to put America first, he must understand that Bibi will do whatever it takes to sabotage diplomatic efforts with Iran — and rather than allowing Bibi to ‘move America’ against its interests, he must order Bibi to stand down.”