Joe Kerry said that the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) and move towards military engagement made war “inevitable”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-standing push to bomb Iran was rejected by three US presidents before finding a willing partner in Donald Trump, claimed ex-US secretary John Kerry.
Former US Presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden were opposed to a war with Tehran, the veteran diplomat added.
“Obama said no. Bush said no. President Biden said no. I mean, I was part of those conversations,” Kerry said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He added that earlier administrations refused escalation because they had not “exhausted all the remedies of peaceful process”.
He said that the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) and move towards military engagement made war "inevitable" by leaving Iran with “no freedom to move in a different direction.”
US wars on Vietnam and Iraq
Kerry explained that the ex-Presidents’ decision to avoid confrontation was rooted in lessons from past conflicts, including the US wars on Vietnam and Iraq. He said the US must avoid misleading the public before sending troops into war.“And speaking as a veteran of the Vietnam War, where decisions like that were so critical, we were lied to about what that war was about, and the lesson of that war and of Iraq is don't lie to the American people and then ask them to send their sons and daughters to fight,” Kerry said.
He also criticised the logic of the war, saying it had undermined negotiations with Iran. Kerry said, “the bottom line” would improve “if neither Iran nor Kash Patel are getting bombed,” also referencing recent allegations involving the FBI director.
“Are those the best ways to negotiate?” Colbert asked. “No, obviously not,” Kerry said. “No, I think what he’s doing now is challenging the validity of his FIFA World Peace Prize.”
The boy who cried ‘bomb’
Netanyahu has been beating the drum about Iran’s nuclear ambitions for over three decades. In the early 90s, he said Iran could be “three to five years” away from nuclear weapons capability. In later years, he claimed Iran was only “weeks or months away” from building a bomb.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UN inspectors have repeatedly found no proof that Iran has built or obtained a nuclear weapon. Last year’s 12-Day US-Israeli war on Iran and the ongoing one, which began on February 28, also has presented no signs of a nuclear weapons arsenal.
Netanyahu finds ally in Trump
Despite earlier resistance, Netanyahu found an ally in the current commander-in-chief. In a high-level meeting in the White House Situation Room on February 11, the Israeli PM delivered a "hard sell," saying the Islamic Republic was "ripe for regime change,” the NYT reported.
He reportedly said a joint US-Israeli effort could end Iran. “Sounds good to me,” Trump is said to have responded.
Later assessments reportedly revealed internal disagreements within the US administration. US vice president JD Vance challenged Netanyahu’s assumptions about the likelihood of regime change, Axios reported.
A US official said, “Before the war, Bibi really sold it to the president as being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was. And the VP was clear-eyed about some of those statements.”
comments
Other categories
Recent Comments
