Israel lobby unable to derail Iran nuclear agreement: Expert

Press TV has conducted an interview with E. Michael Jones, editor of the Culture Wars Online Magazine from Indiana, to get his take on recent comments by Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, who vowed a crushing response to enemy threats.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you see the timing of the remarks by Iran’s defense minister regarding the country’s military capabilities?

Jones: I think they are response to Asthon Carter’s testimony before the United States Congress, in which he said basically that the Iran nuclear deal will not inhibit any type of military action they might want to take against Iran. It’s also a response to Ashton Carter flying to both Israel and Saudi Arabia to try to assure those people that the Iran deal is not going to jeopardize their existence. But I think that basically this is the speeches, the talks of Ashton Carter basically to achieve the opposite effect. In other words, I think he’s trying to sell the Iran deal to the Congress and against the Republican and Israel lobby opposition. So that is what I think is going on here.

Press TV: And of course hours after the Iranian defense minister’s comments, Israeli media began publishing stories about Tel Aviv’s plans to attack Iran in 2010 and 2012, both of which were blocked by the regime’s military officials. Now if it weren’t due to Iran’s defense and retaliatory capabilities, do you think such attacks would be inevitable?

Jones: Israel cannot attack Iran on its own, needs American support to do it. And with the Obama administration, they’ve basically told Israel ‘we’re not going to do it, we’re not going to support any attack, we want this deal, we don’t want a war.’ And Israel has been unhappy with that ever since, but I think this is the culmination of that conflict; Israel, first of all, Benjamin Netanyahu coming over in March trying to insult the president and now the Israel lobby spending anywhere between 40 and 150 million dollars, depending on who you talks to, to overturn the deal. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. I sincerely do not think it’s going to happen. The deal is going to go through, because America cannot do it on its own. It cannot maintain sanctions on its own and the Europeans are ready to…on the sanctions. They’re already in Iran on the ground doing business deals. So, I don’t think the Republicans can hold out against pressure like that. They make a lot of noise to get money from the Israel lobby. But I think all of them have to go along with the deal.

Press TV: And of course as you mentioned, the Israeli regime has hundreds of nukes, but it’s campaigning to block a deal that proves to the world the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. How would you explain such double standards in the face of international law?

Jones: Because Israel controls the Congress, and “he who pays the piper calls the tune” it’s the gold rule. He who owns the gold makes the rules. That’s part of the problem. It’s been a problem of our foreign policy. We’re joined to the hip to Israel and as a result can’t function as a sovereign country on our own. The same thing is true for Saudi Arabia. For years during the 90s, the American Central Intelligence Agency could not focus properly on terrorism, because they thought the Saudis were our allies and they couldn’t understand why our allies would be funding terrorism, people like Osama bin Laden for example. They were fixated on Iran because of the [Islamic] Revolution and as a result, they couldn’t perceive who the real enemies were. That’s the problem and I think the attempt of the Obama administration to do this Iran deal is a step away from that very…destructive relationship that has inhibited America’s ability to act in its own interest.

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