Bishop heading for Teheran
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council has commented on the recent interim P5+1 deal which leaves Iran still on target to develop its nuclear facilities. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will visit Iran later this month.
The AIJAC statement:
“We are deeply concerned that this unsigned framework agreement will leave Iran a nuclear threshold state, with its nuclear infrastructure, including its research,missile program and military facilities, left intact. There are self-evident weaknesses in the critical verification and inspection provisions.
These include the lack of clarity on how violations will be dealt with and on which sanctions would be lifted ,and when and how they could be re-imposed .
These critical details need to be resolved satisfactorily and then agreed to by Iran by June 30.While any ultimate deal must ensure that the terror-supporting, expansionist, fundamentalist regime in Tehran is prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons capability,this framework risks conceding Iran precisely that nuclear status and the ability to assert further regional dominance .”
And on Julie Bishop’s visit:
It is also imperative that the Iranian leaders hear from Ms Bishop that the West is willing and able to defend its values and interests, and that no nuclear weaponisation by Iran is acceptable under any circumstances.
Well aware that many crucial details still need to be settled before June 30 to create a better, more reasonable deal, we are hopeful she will explain to the Iranians the importance of tightening up verification and providing remedies for inspection inadequacies and of linking sanctions relief to improved Iranian behaviour with agreed, workable enforcement mechanisms for violations.
Important US allies, including Australia, should use whatever influence we have to ensure that any ultimate deal is effective in limiting Iran’s nuclear aspirations and doesn’t prematurely confer unwarranted legitimacy on an unreformed, aggressive, expansionist rival.
The AIJAC statement regarding Bishop’s Iran visit is positive but naive. Bishop will say or do nothing that could be seen to undermine Obama’s deal. Obama did not push for a statement regarding Israel’s right to exist and neither will Bishop, irrespective of her personal beliefs – I hope i am proved wrong!