It is becoming clear that Trump aims to cater to Israel's agenda until he leaves office.
U.S. and Israel Try to Bait Iran to Retaliate and Lead to Middle East WarHopefully, Iran will resist the apparent U.S.-Israeli attempt to provoke it into retaliating for Fakhrizadeh's assassination and thereby provide Trump with a pretext to launch a retaliatory strike, which would ignite a war in the Middle East. The U.S. military already has more than 40,000 troops in the region on high alert.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged to respond to the assassination of Fakhrizadeh at the "proper time." Rouhani said, "The Iranian nation is smarter than falling into the trap of the Zionists. They are thinking to create chaos." The day after the assassination, Iran's parliament unanimously voted to end future UN inspections of Iran's nuclear sites. The inspections had confirmed that Iran was in compliance with the JCPOA. Terminating them could spell an end to the nuclear deal.
Nevertheless, Zarif hopes Biden will improve relations between Iran and the United States. But hard-liners, who won recent elections and are slated to pick up additional seats in Iran's parliament in February, could doom any rapprochement with the United States. CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin and Ariel Gold note that this leaves only a four-month window for negotiations after Biden is inaugurated.
"US & Israel efforts to sabotage Iran's nuclear program have now morphed into Trump & Netanyahu sabotaging the next US President," tweeted Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council. "They are trying to goad Iran into provocations & accelerating nuclear work-exactly what they claim to oppose. Their real fear is US & Iran talking."
Much to Netanyahu's chagrin, Biden has said he wants to return the United States to the Iran nuclear deal, albeit with preconditions. Tony Blinken, Biden's nominee for secretary of state, indicated the incoming administration will pursue a policy of uncritical support for Israel. In spite of the mandates in the Leahy Law and the Arms Export Control Act, Blinken stated that Biden "would not tie military assistance to Israel to any political decisions that it makes. Period. Full stop." The U.S. government supports Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory with $3.8 billion in annual military aid, in spite of Israel's war crimes.
Blinken made that statement in a briefing to the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMI), a U.S.-based advocacy group that pushes the Democratic Party to adopt pro-Israel policies. "DMI was manufactured to ensure that Democrats would not stray too far from the pro-Israel party line," Richard Silverstein wrote at Tikun Olam. "The group has regularly acted as an enforcer within the Party when candidates espouse positions considered anti-Israel."
It is up to Congress, as well as civil society, to prevent the Biden administration from continuing the U.S. policy of caving to Israel's demands a practice that not only deepens the oppression of the Palestinians but could also actively imperil the national security of the United States.
Meanwhile, we must pressure Congress to prevent Trump from attacking Iran. The consequences to the Middle East and the entire world would be catastrophic.
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