Kissinger highly praised the Trump administration’s Middle East peace talks efforts in a March 3 Nixon Foundation foreign affairs speech. “I think one of the great accomplishments of the last administration was that they made two major breakthroughs in Middle East affairs,” he said.
“First, divorcing the Palestinian issue from all other Middle East issues, and second, uniting Sunni states in actual or potential combinations to come together against an Iranian-led Shiite state.”
Kissinger said, “We should not give up pressure on Iran until we figure out what Iran’s true intentions are.”
Late last year, the Trump Administration established standardized agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, the first such agreement in 25 years.
More recently, the U.S. government has been accused of reopening negotiations with Iran on a nuclear deal. The Biden administration recently indicated that it is willing to reopen discussions with European countries and Iran to join the Iran deal process. However, Iran has publicly rejected initial offers to resume negotiations.
President Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and said the previous administration’s agreement failed to reduce Iran’s missile program and regional influence.
For its part, the Israeli government has said it will do whatever it takes to confront Iran.
Newsmax reported on March 5 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his supporters that he would “go against the entire world” to stop the Iranian nuclear deal. Netanyahu’s tough statement is a departure from the norm, as he has been very cautious in the past when discussing the Iran nuclear deal.
International realities have changed,” Netanyahu said. “There is an intention now to want to go back to this dangerous deal. I am the only one who will oppose the whole world.”
Two weeks ago, Netanyahu and Israel’s top national security official also agreed to avoid disagreements with the Biden Administration. The decision was made to focus on holding strategic consultations with the White House on the Iranian nuclear issue.
After Iran declared its intention to develop nuclear weapons to destroy Israel, Netanyahu asked rhetorically, “Who will defend you from extinction? I will not hesitate to take any means against anything that threatens our country.”
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