By Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom—
Renewed negotiations over a return to or revision of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 – kicked off in Vienna on Monday with feigned fanfare.
The Islamic Republic has made it clear that no agreement can be discussed, let alone reached, unless all sanctions hindering the regime’s operations are removed. It has also been engaging in double-speak, bragging about its strides in uranium-enrichment, on the one hand, while insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, on the other.
Nobody buys the latter assertion, but the other parties to the JCPOA have convinced themselves that the interests of all concerned are best served through diplomacy. Never mind that Tehran refuses to allow American representatives anywhere near the room where the talks are being held. Washington is willing to have the mullahs dictate the terms of the entire arrangement, and let European, Russian and Chinese envoys enjoy face-to-face contact with their Iranian counterparts.
This makes chief Iranian army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi’s interview on Saturday – a mere 48 hours before the start of the kowtowing in Austria – all the more relevant and chilling. Though the powers-that-be in Tehran have never hidden their desire for the destruction of the United States (the “Great Satan”) and Israel (the “Small Satan”), Shekarchi’s words in the current context should serve as sufficient cause for America to call off the whole charade.
Speaking to the regime-controlled Iran Students News Agency (ISNA), Shekarchi announced that Israel’s annihilation is his country’s “greatest ideal before us and the greatest goal we pursue.”
He additionally mentioned the assassination of the head the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force in a US drone strike nearly two years ago, saying that the “highest level of revenge for martyr Soleimani’s blood is the withdrawal of Americans from the region.” Continue Reading….
