Washington – Wendy Sherman, the U.S. State Department’s principal negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal, said on Wednesday the U.S. government was ready to discuss additional security assistance to Israel in the wake of the agreement.
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Sherman testified to a U.S. Senate hearing on the deal that the President Barack Obama’s administration was prepared to discuss “further enhancements to security assistance” to Israel when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to do so.
Iran has threatened to destroy the Jewish State. Sherman noted on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently traveled to Israel.
Netanyahu has said he views the nuclear deal as a threat to his country’s existence and Israel has been lobbying against the agreement. The U.S. Congress has until Sept. 17 to vote to approve or reject the deal.
Sherman says she’ll tell senators in a classified briefing what she knows about the separate document between Iran and nuclear inspectors that is part of the nuclear accord negotiated with Tehran.
Republicans have criticized the Obama administration, saying Congress has not been given access to the document, which they say is needed to decide whether to vote to approve the deal in September.
Sherman told the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday that she has seen provisions of the document, outlining technical aspects of how Iranian sites will be inspected to ensure compliance.
The administration is defending the nuclear deal, which aims to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in economic sanctions relief.
it doesnt make sense if the Iran deal is supposed to make Iran deterred why provide Israel more weapons if anything they should get less.
Thats what it boils down to, how can the U.S. find new clients that will buy the latest armaments even if we have to lend them the money. So it is a game of who gets to sell more sophisticated weaponry to all sides lined up to fight a war.