Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
ZOA is extremely grateful to President Trump for all he did — far more than any other U.S. president — to degrade Iran’s nuclear facilities and military capabilities in Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury.
However, the pending deal with Iran is concerning. The deal appears to be an “agreement to negotiate” — which enables the Iranian regime to obtain massive oil revenue and time to build up its military and terror arsenals, while leaving the genocidal Iranian regime and its nuclear and missile stockpiles in place, and positioning the Iranian regime to continue and strengthen its 47-year war to destroy the U.S., Israel, and the West.
The U.S. administration has not revealed the deal’s full terms. We call on the administration to disclose the terms as soon as possible.
However, the little that we know is deeply problematic.
President Trump stated on Truth Social that he is “authoriz[ing] the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.” It makes no sense for the U.S. to immediately give up its pressure on the Iranian regime — the blockade that was strangulating Iran economically — without obtaining immediate removal of Iran’s nuclear stockpile, decommissioning of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and destruction of Iran’s deadly missile stockpile.
The deal’s apparent long ceasefire also only plays into the Iranian regime’s delaying tactics. We’ve repeatedly seen that “ceasefires” with the Iranian regime and its proxies mean “we cease and they fire.”
Reports that the deal also includes a Lebanon ceasefire are also extremely concerning — inasmuch as Hezbollah will, as it always does, violate the ceasefire and use the ceasefire to regroup and rearm. President Trump’s demands on Israel to stand down in Lebanon and in Iran, to facilitate this troubling deal — despite Hezbollah’s and the Iranian regime’s rocket and drone attacks on Israel — plays right into the Iranian regime’s hands, undermines necessary deterrence and endangers Israel’s safety. Pressuring Israel to not respond to threats of annihilation and attacks on her people is not, as the president called it, a “Great Deal [that] will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region.”
Psychologically, the deal and U.S. pressure on Israel emboldens the Iranian regime and its proxies, and enables the regime to declare victory over the American and Israeli “Big Satan and Little Satan.”
President Trump also stated on Truth Social that the deal will be a “WALL against Iran ever having a nuclear weapon, the complete opposite of Obama. [sic]” While we hope that is the case, how will this be achieved? There appears to be no agreement at this time on how or whether to remove Iran’s nuclear stockpiles and decommission its nuclear facilities. Further, the Iranian regime has been busily mining the entrances to its nuclear stockpiles, making removing them much more difficult. The Iranian regime, which is dead set against giving up its nuclear material, is thus doing everything in its power to assure that negotiations to remove nuclear materials will not succeed. Moreover, the deal does not appear to address Iran’s ballistic missiles — the delivery system for delivering a nuclear warhead.
Iranian state media leaks claimed that the deal would allow continuing Iranian nuclear enrichment and billions of dollars of payments to Iran — terms amounting to total capitulation by the United States. President Trump condemned the leaks as having no resemblance to the truth, and condemned the leakers as “Very dishonorable people to deal with. With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING!” So, how can we expect the dishonorable Iranians to act in anything but bad faith during further negotiations?
The U.S. military was close to total victory when it prematurely stopped Epic Fury. And Iran was on the verge of economic collapse. The president’s previously stated goal of total victory was the correct goal for bringing peace and stability to the region.
Without total victory, we will have an Iranian regime with a rebuilt huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and eventual nukes to destroy Israel and many of its neighbors; intercontinental missiles that reach the U.S.; continuing threats and attempts to murder U.S. citizens and officials including the president; more attacks on U.S. embassies and facilities; the rearming of Iran’s proxies; and Iran’s involvement in more 9/11’s and Jewish Center bombings.
Disturbingly, the interim Iran deal does not appear to be even close to the U.S.-Israel war goals of eliminating the existential dangers of Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missiles, ending the Iranian regime’s support for its terror proxies, and helping the Iranian people overturn the brutal, genocidal Iranian regime.
The world will not be safe as long as Iran’s hateful genocidal regime exists.