06 Dec 2021; MEMO: Israel's policy towards Iran since the signing of the nuclear deal in 2015 has been nothing but a failure, former Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday.
In an article published by Ynet News, Barak said: "Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was right when he addressed the unbearable gap between the rhetoric of the former government led by Benjamin Netanyahu and its actions."
He stressed: "Israel's policy towards Iran since the signing of the nuclear deal in 2015 has been nothing but a failure, stemming from ineptitude and the dangerous illusions of its leader."
"Netanyahu chose to clash with the administration of former US President Barack Obama, missing a golden opportunity to bolster Israel's military strength, which would have enabled the IDF [Israeli army] to act independently against the Iranian nuclear program."
Barak considered US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran an opportunity for the country to increase its nuclear research.
"In 2018, Netanyahu pushed another former US leader Donald Trump to withdraw from the deal, allowing the Iranians to accelerate their rush towards a nuclear threshold, while blaming the US for violating the deal," he said.
"Worst of all, Netanyahu failed to prepare a joint Israeli and American "Plan B" to surgically set Iran's nuclear program back many years – should Tehran opt to proceed to head towards the nuclear threshold."
He said: "Iran seeks to have nuclear weapons, not to use them against the US, Israel or any other neighbouring nation… just in order to ensure the future of the regime and its independence to act." Adding: "It is unclear whether the US and Israel even have a plan in place for."
