Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu blasted "disinformation" about the Iran deal in an address to the Jewish Federations of North America yesterday. He was particularly incensed at the accusation that the deal's critics are war-mongers and warned that it fits into Iran's objective to build a nuclear arsenal, rather than a handful of bombs. "A more difficult path to one or two bombs today and a much easier path to hundreds of bombs tomorrow," said Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister conceded that the deal impedes Iran's ability to make a mad dash towards assembling a nuclear bomb—but building a couple of nukes as quickly as possible was never Iran's goal. An arsenal is the goal. This deal is the most efficient way to get there, albeit not the fastest. Before the interim deal was even made, Iran made the strategic decision not to exercise its three-month breakout capacity, even though it had enough uranium for eight to 10 nuclear weapons. Iran has bigger plans in mind. It wants to deceptively create an arsenal, revitalize the regime and its ideology, upgrade its military and come out much stronger than before. The international business that will be generated from the lifting of sanctions will also minimize the chances of imposing effective sanctions in the future. As the Prime Minister explained, Iran can cash in, break the deal and build an arsenal because the necessary nuclear infrastructure remains. If Iran is more patient, it can reap the benefits for 10-15 years until the restrictions are lifted and, by President Obama's own admission, "the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero." "Believe me, you can flush a lot of nuclear meth down the toilet in 24 days." Iran can stall inspections for 24 days and even that is an optimistic timeframe. Under the agreement, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have to inform Iran of what sites they want to visit and what intelligence they have that is raising the concerns so that Iran can respond. As Netanyahu said, this is like a police officer giving a drug dealer a 24-day notice that his lab will be raided. "Iran is not building these ballistic missiles—these ICBMs—to hit Israel. They already have missiles that can hit Israel everywhere. They are building them to hit you: To hit the United States. You're the Great Satan. We're just the Little Satan." ICBMs can be used to carry out a nuclear EMP attack that could cripple the U.S., an option the Iranian regime talks about exercising and has been seen practicing for. Although the deal's supporters claim that claims that the agreement imposes an eight-year ban on ballistic missile development, that does not appear in the text of the deal. It does appear in the accompanying U.N. resolution but Iran points out (correctly) that that resolution is non-binding. All the resolution does is "call upon" Iran to stop for the development for eight years. It could be that the U.N. Security Council members agreed to reinstate sanctions if that call is not heeded, but Russia and China certainly has room to hedge. Moreover, the current restriction on missile development is almost meaningless since Iranian development of those missiles is practically completed. Four top nuclear experts already declared Iran a "nuclear missile state" in February. Plus, Iran has and will simply outsource that work to North Korea, which is preparing a missile test in October. "The more people know about the deal, the more they oppose it. And the more people know about it, the more the deal's supporters try to stifle serious debate...Yet, there is one claim that is the most outrageous: That those who oppose the deal want war. That's utterly false." The deal's opponents don't want war, but they recognize that Iran's jihad against the West is the Islamist equivalent of declaring and waging a war. The deal escalates that war and makes the long-term chances of war far greater. "Any terrorist group supported by Iran [will turn] into a terrorist superpower." The critics have offered peaceful alternatives, such as maximizing economic pressure so a deal that genuinely avoids war is reached. Netanyahu reminded the audience that he suggested two alternatives: A deal that lifts sanctions as Iran dismantles its infrastructure entirely or a deal that significantly dismantles the infrastructure and lifts sanctions in response to alterations in Iranian behavior, such as sponsoring terrorism. "The deal that was supposed to end nuclear proliferation will actually trigger nuclear proliferation...That's a real nightmare." There will likely also be a regional nuclear arms race, adding multiple cans of gasoline around the barely-contained Middle Eastern fire. If there's anything that the West should have learned since the Arab Spring, it's that power can change hands in the region in the blink of an eye. The deal also will spark a conventional arms race as neighboring states acquire weapons ahead of the expiration of the U.N. arms embargo on Iran in five years or less. We should also expect a massive escalation in proxy wars. Sunni Islamists will spare nothing to prepare their jihadists for the dramatically-strengthened Iranian proxies like the formerly cash-strapped Hezbollah. It's offensive to accuse the deal's critics of wanting a war, as if they desire the deaths of American servicemen and Muslim babies. Their strong desire to avoid war is precisely why they don't want to irresponsibly gamble on this deal.
