Israel Matzav

The country is in the very best of hands: Obama's woman in Tehran

Yes, it's true. The United States is negotiating with Tehran. Valerie Jarrett, President Obama's Iranian-born domestic adviser, who has zero foreign policy experience, has initiated and is leading negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons capability. Alex Fishman reports on YNet in a story that was originally only in the Hebrew print edition of Yedioth this morning.

Last month, The New York Times reported that the US government is engaged in secret talks with Iran aimed at establishing a direct line of communication once the US presidential elections are over.

The National Security Council's spokesperson denied there is any agreement between the US and Iran regarding direct talks, but the following day senior government officials confirmed that talks took place though no future meeting was scheduled.

The US has tried to keep the secret contacts under wraps since some of the countries involved in the public negotiations, such as Russia, were excluded from them.

Israel was originally surprised to learn of the talks, but state officials now reveal that they were going on for several months. The talks, they claim, were initiated and led by Jarret, and took place in Bahrain.

The US State Department estimated the economic pressure on Iran will peek in February or March, immidiately after the president-elect takes office, rendering the talks over Iran's nuclear program – in case they materialize – with potentially positive results.

Valerie Jarrett has zero foreign policy experience, but is a close friend of Michelle Obama. I guess it will be payback time for Israel after the elections too. What could go wrong?

UPDATE 3:49 PM

From a friend who used to work in the Israeli foreign ministry:

Jarrett’s office was the liaison to J Street and the Arab American Institute, according to the White House logs.  I would guess that her office was also liaison with Trita Parsi and NIAC.

Oh, and by the way, in case your have forgotten, the reason Jarrett was born in Tehran is that her parents were missionaries there, so you can bet she's a hell of a lot more sympathetic to Iranians than to Israelis.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iranian nuclear threat, Valerie Jarrett

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:41 PM