While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Sunday Talk this weekend to gripe about any nuclear weapons deal with Iran, President Obama took to the media to reassure
friend and foe:
As he sought in an interview with The New York Times to sell the tentative deal to skeptics accusing him of giving away too much, Mr. Obama emphasized to Israel that “we’ve got their backs” in the face of Iranian hostility. And he suggested that he could accept some sort of vote in Congress if it did not block his ability to carry out the agreement.
“This is our best bet by far to make sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with Thomas L. Friedman, an Op-Ed columnist for The Times, published on Sunday. “What we will be doing even as we enter into this deal is sending a very clear message to the Iranians and to the entire region that if anybody messes with Israel, America will be there.”
Relations with Iran went downhill beginning more than 60 years ago when the US played a
lead role in overthrowing their democratically elected leader and installing a ruthless dictator on top of heaps of US weapons and money. After the hostage crisis blow-back we then
egged on Iraq, under our then close pal Saddam Hussein, into a devastating war with Iran. More recently, the US invaded and occupied countries on Iran's eastern and western borders. Now we have Republican lawmakers running around almost bragging Iran will be next.
Given that track record, it's fortunate Iran came to the table at all. If they're willing to reduce the number of gas centrifuges by thousands and give up existing caches of enriched material of various grades in the process (White House fact sheet here), the best thing we can do for ourselves, our allies, and the entire world is to let them.