Iran: World Jewish Congress leader skeptical
World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder voiced strong skepticism about today’s agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in Vienna aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Ronald S. Lauder
Lauder said: “We are still looking forward to getting all the details of this agreement, with the hope that the verification process will allow inspectors to determine Iran’s true aims.”
The WJC president said: “So far, this agreement is just a piece of paper. It is not a legally binding treaty, and there is no reason to trust Iran over its implementation. Tehran has a long history of misleading the world. Last Friday’s government-sponsored ‘Quds Day’ rallies, in which the masses again shouted ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’ are a good example of why we shouldn’t be overly optimistic.”
While Lauder expressed appreciation at the intense efforts by the P5+1 group of nations over many months to reach a deal checking Iran’s nuclear ambitions, he remained deeply skeptical that the agreement’s restrictions would ultimately prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“Iran has in the past failed over and over again to live up to its treaty obligations. It has maintained secret military sites. I fear we may have entered into an agreement that revives the Iranian economy but won’t stop this regime from developing nuclear arms in the long-term, which would have disastrous consequences for the entire region and the world,” said Lauder. “As the famous proverb goes, ‘The road to hell is often paved with good intentions.’
“Let’s hope that this agreement will be worth the paper it is written on; and let’s hope that Iran will finally comply. For that to happen, it will be critical that the international community remains prepared to reinstate sanctions immediately should Tehran fail to honor any of its commitments under the agreement,” said Lauder.
Israel’s Prime Minister said: “I will refer later to the details of the agreement, but before that, I would like to say here and now – when you are willing to make an agreement at any cost, this is the result.
From the initial reports we can already conclude that this agreement is an historic mistake for the world.
Far-reaching concessions have been made in all areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability. In addition, Iran will receive hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can fuel its terror machine and its expansion and aggression throughout the Middle East and across the globe.
One cannot prevent an agreement when the negotiators are willing to make more and more concessions to those who, even during the talks, keep chanting: ‘Death to America.’
We knew very well that the desire to sign an agreement was stronger than anything, and therefore we did not commit to preventing an agreement.
We did commit to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and this commitment still stands.
I say to all the leaders in Israel, it is time to put petty politics aside and unite behind this most fateful issue to the future and security of the State of Israel.”
