Israel Matzav

How Obama abandoned Israel

The Associated Press (via the New York Post) describes how the Obama administration negotiated with Iran behind Prime Minister Netanyahu's back.

Before Rouhani’s election, while former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in power, a tense U.S.-Iran relationship seemed unavoidable.

But Obama was determined to test that. In March, a small hand-picked group of officials led by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s top foreign policy adviser, boarded a military plane for Oman to meet Iranian counterparts.

Their travel plans were not on any public itineraries. No reception greeted them as they landed.

It was at this first high-level gathering at a secure location in the Omani capital of Muscat, famous for its souk filled with frankincense and myrrh, that the Obama administration began laying the groundwork for this weekend’s historic nuclear pact between world powers and Iran, The Associated Press has learned.

The AP has learned that at least five secret meetings have occurred between top Obama administration and Iranian officials since March.

Burns and Sullivan led each U.S. delegation. At the most recent face-to-face talks, they were joined by chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Wendy Sherman.

It was at the final get-together that the two sides ultimately agreed on the contours of the pact signed before dawn Sunday by the so-called P5+1 group of nations and Iran, three senior administration officials told the AP. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to be quoted by name talking about the sensitive diplomacy.

The AP was tipped to the first U.S.-Iranian meeting in March shortly after it occurred, but the White House and State Department disputed elements of the account and the AP could not confirm the meeting. The AP learned of further indications of secret diplomacy in the fall and pressed the White House and other officials further. As the Geneva talks between the P5+1 and Iran appeared to be reaching their conclusion, senior administration officials confirmed to the AP the details of the extensive outreach. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss by name the secret talks.

Obama told Netanyahu about the meetings in late September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. By then, Netanyahu had been tipped off by the Saudis. 

Read the whole thing. There's much more. Obama went to great lengths to cover this up for as long as possible....

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hassan Rohani, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, John Kerry, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, P 5+1

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:05 AM