Ex-Netanyahu national security adviser urges US to keep Iran deal
Former Israeli National Security Adviser Uzi Arad urges Washington to build on the 2015 Iran nuclear accord rather than abandon it.
WASHINGTON — Former Israeli National Security Adviser Uzi Arad is urging Washington to build on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal rather than abandon or undermine it.
“My position is in support of preserving the agreement and strengthening the agreement,” Arad said on a call Monday hosted by the liberal Jewish-American group J Street, ahead of a week of events in Washington urging members of Congress and the Donald Trump administration to work with allies to address what comes after certain provisions in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) expire in a decade.
“Doing away with the agreement is no real option,” said Arad, who served as national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during 2009-2011. “It simply removes from existence something that had been established, that presented certain assets and certain things that are tangible — and replacing that [with] nothing.”
Arad’s presentations this week in Washington come ahead of an Oct. 15 quarterly deadline for Trump to certify to Congress that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal. Trump hinted at diplomatic meetings in New York last month that he is unlikely to do so. If Trump declines to certify, Congress has 60 days to decide if it should vote to reimpose US sanctions suspended under the deal in exchange for Iran’s rollback of its nuclear program.
