JERUSALEM, Israel – Another round of U.S.-Iranian talks is set to begin this week, amid questions about whether Iran can be trusted. Meanwhile, President Trump has dispatched another aircraft carrier to the region as protesters around the world continue to demonstrate for regime change.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told American Jewish leaders at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that the president wants to “exhaust the possibilities” of making a deal with Iran, and he thinks he can now achieve it.
“Because of the circumstances that have been created, the force projection, and the fact that, as he says, Iran must surely understand that they missed out last time, he thinks there is a serious probability that they won’t miss out this time,” Netanyahu stated.
Yet, the prime minister has his doubts.
“I will not hide from you that I expressed my skepticism of any deal with Iran, because, frankly, Iran is reliable on one thing: they lie, and they cheat.
Netanyahu believes any deal must include several components for the sake of Israel’s security as well as the security of the region and the world.
“The first is that all enriched material has to leave Iran,” Netanyahu insisted. “The second is that there shall be no enrichment capability. And the third is to deal also with the questions of ballistic missiles. And the fourth is stop, (and) dismantle the axis of the terror that Iran has built.”
A senior Iranian official reiterated on Friday that Iran’s missile program is “non-negotiable,” and said the Iranian military remains on high alert.
Trump is sending a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the region. It’s the world’s largest carrier, and it will join the USS Abraham Lincoln as the second round of mediated talks between the U.S. and Iran is set to begin in Geneva on Tuesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on a trip to Slovakia, said, “I’m not going to talk about attacks on Iran or anything of that nature because the president’s made clear he prefers diplomacy and an outcome of negotiated settlement. Now, we’re dealing with radical Shia clerics, okay. We’re dealing with people who make political, geopolitical decisions on the basis of pure theology, and it’s a complicated thing.”
Rubio noted that no one has ever made a successful deal with Iran’s Islamic regime, but the U.S. is trying.
“We are focused on negotiations. That’s what we’re focused on. The president’s made that clear. If that changes, it’ll be obvious to everyone. And obviously, whatever the law requires us to do, we’ll do,” Rubio remarked.
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Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called on Trump to take action.
“To (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump: You’ve deployed a massive armada and have signaled unmistakably that brutality’s time is ending. The Iranian people heard you say help is on the way, and they have faith in you,” Pahlavi said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Pahlavi asserted that it’s time to end the Islamic Republic and not try to fix the regime.
“Because, as I said, I don’t think these negotiations will amount to anything. The regime is simply buying time yet again. But every day that goes by, more people could die. That’s how important an intervention is to equalize the playing field for us.”
Hundreds of thousands of people joined worldwide protests called a Global Day of Action on Saturday, with the biggest crowds gathering in Munich, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
One Toronto demonstrator, Muhammad Hadi, said, “We support the Iranian people, we are Iranian, we support everybody for freedom. And then, if the people around the world, they want the world without the terrorists, the best choice is to support the Iranian people now.”
A day earlier, President Trump had said that so far, Iran just wants to talk and doesn’t take action. When asked, he indicated he also favors regime change.
“Well, it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” he admitted, and added, “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. And legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. This has been going on for a long time, so let’s see what happens.”
Trump continued, “In the meantime, we have, tremendous power has arrived and additional power, as you know, another carrier is going out shortly. So we’ll see it out. If we could get it settled for once and for all, that would be good.”
