Former Secretary of State John Kerry asserted that both Israel and Egypt pushed the United States to "bomb Iran" before the 2015 nuclear deal was struck. He said kings and foreign presidents told the U.S. that bombing was the only language Iran would understand, as reported by The Associated Press (AP). He also stated that it was "a trap" in many ways because the same countries would have publicly criticized the U.S. if it bombed Iran. Kerry said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "genuinely agitating toward action."
He said he doesn't know whether Iran will resume pursuing a nuclear weapon in 10 to 15 years after restrictions in the deal sunset. But he says it was the best deal the U.S. could get while defending the deal during a forum in Washington.
President Donald Trump said on Oct. 13 he would not certify whether Iran is complying with an international agreement on its nuclear program, and threatened that he might ultimately terminate the accord. Trump's action opened a 60-day window for Congress to act to re-impose sanctions on Iran's nuclear program that were lifted under the agreement, but there has been no move to do so in the House or Senate.
The Trump administration has vowed to confront Iran much more aggressively in the region, where it shares the Saudi view that Tehran is fomenting instability via a number of proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen among other countries. Tehran denies the allegations.
The U.S. and Israel are concerned over Iran's growing influence in the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Lebanon. Israel is willing to resort to military action to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said in October where he is seeking backing for U.S. President Donald Trump's tougher line on Tehran. He wanted the nuclear agreement to be revised to remove an expiration date, and to impose tighter conditions to stop Tehran from developing new centrifuges used to make weapons-grade nuclear material. He also urged sanctions to stop Iran from establishing Syria as a military base to launch attacks on Israel and action to put a halt to Tehran's development of ballistic missiles.
Israel has taken unilateral action in the past without the consent of its major ally, the U.S., including airstrikes on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007 and in Iraq in 1981. An Israeli threat of military strikes could, nonetheless, galvanize support in the U.S. for toughening up the nuclear agreement but it could also backfire by encouraging hardliners in Iran and widening a rift between Washington and European allies.