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JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United States next week to urge President Barack Obama and the United Nations to judge Iran by its actions and not the overtures of new President Hassan Rouhani.
Obama and Rohani attended the opening of the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday amid indications from both leaders that U.S.-Iran relations may be heading for a thaw, possibly paving the way for a compromise over Iran's nuclear program and the easing of international sanctions it has triggered.
Concern that the U.S. and its allies might be tempted to ease penalties on Iran ahead of any agreement has prompted Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to warn against Rohani's more conciliatory tone toward the West, which stands in stark contrast to that adopted by his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"We shouldn't blindly accept the deceitful words of the Iranian president," Netanyahu said on Sept. 19. "The Iranians are using spin in the media in order to continue to spin their centrifuges."
At meetings in Washington and New York, Netanyahu will stress that since Rouhani's election Iran has continued to upgrade uranium enrichment and plutonium production facilities, according to an official in the Prime Minister's Office, speaking anonymously because he's not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Rouhani's "charm offensive" is no more than a cover for these activities, the official said, adding that Israel has no position on the U.S. engaging in direct diplomacy with Iran's leadership.
Israel says that Iran aims to develop nuclear weapons that pose an existential threat, and only tough economic sanctions with a credible military threat can halt its plans. Iran says its nuclear program is intended only for peaceful civilian purposes.
Netanyahu has laid out four specific conditions Iran must agree to before the U.S. and Europe lift sanctions: halting all uranium enrichment, removing all enriched material, closing the reactor at Fordo near the city of Qom, and stopping plutonium production.
Some analysts say his tough rhetoric, especially personal attacks on Rohani, may prove counter-productive to his bid to protect Israel.
"He is making it look like Israel is the one who's the naysayer, the one who is ready to reject a compromise solution," Meir Javedanfar, a lecturer on Iranian politics at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, said by telephone. "Israel should first wait and see what Rouhani has to say instead of creating the perception that it really doesn't want the U.S. to reach a peaceful solution with Iran, thus avoiding the military option."
Netanyahu allies reject that argument, saying that it is especially important now for Israel to clearly express its views on Iran, as Rouhani campaigns to ease sanctions.
"While Israel may express itself differently from countries that aren't directly threatened by Iran, that's a matter mainly of tone," Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. who advises Netanyahu on international affairs, said in a phone interview. "Right now there's very little space between Israel and the U.S. on basic Iran policy, and I think you will see that clearly when the prime minister meets with President Obama." The two will meet on Sept. 30.
Netanyahu's tough talk may reflect the fact that Israel is largely left standing on the sidelines in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group, which comprises the U.S. and its European partners and China, according to Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
"Israel is in the position of being on the outside of the negotiating room, continually telling those inside that they have to be really, really careful," Landau said. "If Israel was taking part in the talks — which of course isn't an option diplomatically — you might hear less of this rhetoric from Netanyahu, as he would be in more of a position to actually impact the direction of the talks."
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