Renee Parsons
As the newly elected President on November 5th, ‘acting’ President Donald J. Trump is considering an escalation in US policy against Iran. Trump’s transition team is reportedly considering ‘preemptive’ air strikes citing a ‘2.1 maximum pressure’ campaign against Tehran to bloc development of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.
The transition team is said to be in the early stages of deliberation as Iran is capable of producing fissile material at near weapons grade level of 60% purity. It is still speculative but the Trump Administration may be open to supporting a 2.1 strike against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities located at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan and may possibly include a joint US – Israel military operation.
It would be of supreme interest to identify participants of the Trump team and to know how many committed Zionists are making this recommendation to the President who promised to bring peace in the Middle East.
Meanwhile the Middle East is on fire as air strikes and a ground campaign continue in Gaza while the IDF ceasefire with Hezbollah is on shaky ground in Lebanon, thousands of American troops are still in eastern Syria and NATO attacked Russia in retaliation for an attack on Ukraine energy and military facilities. The surprise upsurge of militant jihadists in Syria, many of whom are Zionists, are redefining the Middle East as it augurs well for the thirty year realignment into the Greater Israel strategic objective.
Despite media claims of popular support for the Islamist rebels, former Jihadist Abu Mohammad al-Jolani has set himself up as leader of Syria’s HTS islamist faction and has reached out to Putin. The HTS are currently in control of the violence and chaos, threatening Syria’s Christian population with US weapons and acting as a facade for the Zionist expansion throughout much of the Middle East.
As the landscape continues to rapidly shift with the dramatic collapse of al Bashar Assad’s 24 year old government, an ally of Iran who refused to recognize Israel even after a two decade brutal ‘civil’ war. While Teheran’s overthrow has been a long term Zionist goal as it appeared on the original post-911 list of seven countries to be toppled in five years (a little behind schedule) Iran claims the second most Jewish citizens in the Middle East, only after Israel.
While Trump will inherit increased military conflicts and civilian disasters that Biden and Blinken are leaving behind, his foreign policy plate is already full with potential humanitarian tragedies and catastrophes. Trump has made no secret of his preference for the Zionists, rather than the Palestinians, and as war against Iran has been a long term Zionist goal, will Trump be able to withstand Netanyahu’s presumptions and expectations that the US will prop up the IDF’s latest military escapade in search of Greater Israel domination.
We cannot fully contemplate Trump’s foreign policy decision making until we better understand adoption and rejection of the (JCPOA) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The intent of the JCPOA was to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Formal negotiations began in November, 2013 with final agreement occurring July, 2015 between Iran, five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, Russia, the US and UK and France) and the European Union. The agreement was opposed by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The agreement was also known as UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association) would have regular access to all Iranian facilities to monitor compliance as Iran became a signatoree of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty NNPT in 1970 while Israel is one of world’s few remaining nations that has never endorsed the NNPT.
In October, 2017 US President Trump announced that the US would not make the certification necessary under US law and by May, 2018, Trump announced the US precipitate withdrawal from the JCPOA as UN Security Council members (France, UK and Germany) continued to endorse the nuclear deal as the “binding international legal framework for the resolution of the dispute“.[7]
Meanwhile, as Israel and the US remain opposed to the JCPA makes no logical sense. If there is a legitimate concern of Iran building and creating its own nuclear facilities and weapons, then it would seem essential for the JCPA to remain ‘en force’ to establish the framework to limit Iran’s nuclear program. To eliminate the JCPA from consideration would seem naively oblivious to the fact that without a JCPA, any legitimate restraints are removed from creating a viable nuclear program – but of course both the US and Israel are fully aware of the potential for an escalation as Iran has been rebuilding its nuclear program.
In addition, Trump would benefit from a staff briefing about a familiar trajectory that the BRICS have strenuously objected to; that is applying maximum pressure to the hegemon’s tight requirement for economic sanctions sufficient to cripple Iran’s economy. As the US has routinely used economic sanctions as a state of war; if any of the BRICS or its neighbors refuse to comply with hegemon demands, then sanctions are required.
It is elementary to understand that because of rapacious demand for fiscal punishment, nations are flocking to join BRICS as a safe alternative t avoid pain and suffering to their country or would contribute to WW III when an easy alternative would be to join BRICS.
Instead, the US military proposal is to step up its miliary presence in the Middle East with more forces, more warplanes and ships as the U.S. would continue to sell advanced weapons to Israel, such as bunker-busting bombs, strengthen its offensive firepower to take Irani nuclear facilities offline.
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On November 25th, NY Times staff conducted an interview with President-elect Donald Trump in preparation for Time magazine’s Person of the Year cover. They met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The following focuses on foreign policy questions and are abbreviated for space considerations
If Ukraine doesn’t agree to a peace deal that you have said you will broker, will you cut military, humanitarian, and intelligence assistance to them?
when I start I think I have a very good plan to help, but when I start exposing that plan, it becomes almost a worthless plan.
Will you commit to protecting Ukrainian sovereignty, though, from Russia?
It would have never happened if I were president.
Would you abandon Ukraine?
I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done. Now they’re doing not only missiles, but they’re doing other types of weapons. And I think that’s a very big mistake,
This is a war that’s been—this is a tragedy. This is death that’s far greater than anyone knows. When the real numbers come out, you’re going to see numbers that you’re not going to believe.
Another war with a high death toll is happening in the Middle East. You reportedly told Prime Minister Netanyahu that you wanted him to end the war in Gaza before you took office. What did he say?
I think that the Middle East is an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine. The Middle East is going to get solved. October 7 was a horrible thing. Things are happening very productively on the Middle East. More complicated than the Russia-Ukraine, but I think it’s, it’s, it’s easier to solve
Did Netanyahu give you assurances about when he would end the war?
I think he feels very confident in me, and I think he knows I want it to end.
You mentioned the Palestinian people. In your first term, your administration put forward the most comprehensive plan for a two-state solution in a long time. Do you still support that plan?
I support a plan of peace, the Abraham Accords, that should have been loaded up with people, should have been loaded up with Middle Eastern countries.
Do you still support a two-state solution?
There are other ideas other than two state, but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace.
Your incoming ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, supports the settlement movement and Israel annexing the West Bank. do you want to get a two-state deal done,
The other thing that’s happening are the hostages, where are the hostages, why aren’t they back?
So there’s a scenario where you would allow Israel to annex the West Bank?
I’ll say it again, I want a long lasting peace.
Iran recently plotted to have you assassinated. What are the chances of going to war with Iran during your next term?
Anything can happen. It’s a very volatile situation.
Do you trust Netanyahu?
I don’t trust anybody.
Can I ask: Did Elon Musk meet with the Iranians at your behest?
I don’t know. He didn’t tell me that.
Renee Parsons served on the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC.