Why a Deal with Iran Scares the Middle East

07-10-2015

Why are so many in the Middle East concerned about the possible nuclear deal with Iran?

In the short term, one of the main concerns in the region would be the billions of dollars Iran would receive in sanctions relief.

Even the U.S. State Department released a report recently saying Iran remains one of the chief sponsors of terror in the world. Those billions of dollars could be funneled to support Iran's battle to establish a Shiite government in Yemen, re-supply the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, and continue to prop up the government of Syrian president Bashar al Assad.

Many here in Israel and throughout the area feel that would be a high price to pay for a deal that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says would all but guarantee that Iran would eventually get a nuclear bomb.

If history is any judge, Israel will do all it can to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. In 1981, they bombed the nuclear reactor in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was building. In 2007, they bombed the nuclear plant president Assad was building in Syria.

They don't want any of their neighbors to get a nuclear device that threatens the survival of the Jewish state. If a deal is struck that, as Netanyahu has said would pave the way for Iran to get a nuclear device, it seems plausible that Israel would do what it has to do, including a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear program.

In fact, a report just the other day in an Israeli news outlet said the Israel Defense Force has appointed a special team to plan for a potential strike.

It seems Netanyahu feels destined to be the leader to stop Iran. As this reporter explained in Destination Jerusalem: ISIS, Convert or Die, Christian Persecution and Preparing for the Days Ahead, CBN News accompanied the prime minister to Moscow in November 2013.

He went to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin not to sign one of the interim deals with Iran. During a background briefing to the traveling press, I asked Netanyahu if he felt in a similar position as Winston Churchill in the 1930s.

At that time in history, Churchill warned the world of the dangers of a re-armed Nazi Germany. Now, Netanyahu like a voice in the wilderness is sounding the alarm about a nuclear Iran.

He answered, "I need to make sure I do everything in my power in the time that I have as leader of Israel to make sure that the chain of Jewish existence and the chain in the life of the Jewish people in the Jewish state is not severed. This is my responsibility."

So it's possible in the event of a deal with Iran that allows the Islamic regime to get a nuclear bomb, we might see a greater conflict - not less - here in the region and possibly the world.

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