Saudi official: Netanyahu spearheads fight against Iran, we hope gov’t won’t change

Author: Published: March 4, 2021

“We are really worried the leader of the opposition will replace him and change things,” a royal tells i24NEWS in an exclusive interview.

By  i24NEWS and ILH Staff
 Published on  03-04-2021 12:16

Last modified: 03-04-2021 12:34

Saudi official: Netanyahu spearheads fight against Iran, we hope gov't won't change

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with his father, King Salman, at a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, Dec. 9, 2018 | File photo: AP via Saudi Press Agency

The source, who asked to be unnamed, stressed that Saudi Arabia knows and appreciates Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and backs his policies with regard to ties to the Gulf states and his high-pressure tactics on Iran.

“[We] … not only like Netanyahu but love him. He is terrific. He has the necessary charisma and he knows what he is doing. We are really worried the leader of the opposition will replace him, and change things”, he said, referring to Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid faction.

i24NEWS contacted Lapid’s office for a reaction but was met with a firm, “No comment.”

A separate source, similarly connected to the royal family expounded further on Saudi Arabia’s preference for Netanyahu. We see him as “the spearhead in the fight against Iran,” they maintained.

However, the source stressed that no Saudi Arabian official could say this openly.

“No country will say this publicly, or intervene in the elections of another country, certainly not us, and certainly not now.”

Both Saudi sources told i24NEWS that there were a number of issues of particular concern to them; a potential change in government in Israel, in addition to a sharply shifting course in US President Joe Biden’s administration compared with his predecessor former President Donald Trump.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom’s daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Trump had a close working relationship with the Mohammed Bin Salman-controlled part of the Saudi government. In addition, the former president implemented a maximum pressure campaign on Iran, including the imposition of far-reaching sanctions.

Meanwhile, Biden has already telegraphed his stated desire to return to the 2015 nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew in 2018 and has also implemented a far colder policy toward Riyadh.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

 

Libyan ship accused of Israel oil spill shown anchored off Iran coast – In pictures

Author: Published: March 4, 2021

Photographs of the vessel, which Israel has accused of ‘eco-terrorism’, show the ship anchored off the Iranian coast.

By ALEX WINSTON, LAHAV HARKOV

MARCH 4, 2021 14:04
Image of the Emerald across Kharg Island, dated January 17, 2021 (photo credit: TANKERTRACKERS.COM)
Image of the Emerald across Kharg Island, dated January 17, 2021
(photo credit: TANKERTRACKERS.COM)

The Emerald, the Iranian vessel at the heart of the Israeli oil spill crisis was seen anchored off the coast of Iran’s Kharg Island on January 17, new information has revealed.

Photographs of the vessel, which Israel has accused of deliberately sabotaging the coastline and its environment in an act of ‘eco-terrorism‘, show the ship off the Iranian coast.

There, it is loaded with an estimated 112,000 tons of crude oil, before encircling the Persian Gulf and entering Egyptian waters.

One photo shows the Emerald in Israel’s economic waters, near Haifa, and two others show the oil stain in the Mediterranean moving closer to Israel.
Another shows the Emerald engaging with a ship that has its transmitter off, west of Syria, and its depth lessening from 14.3 meters under the sea to 8.5 meters, which likely indicates that it unloaded tanks of oil to the other ship, while at sea.
A further photo directly shows the Emerald unloading 750,000 barrels of Iranian oil to a tanker called Lotus, a Syrian ship flying an Iranian flag.
The photographs were made public via TankerTrackers.com, an online service that tracks and reports shipments and storage of crude oil, and passed on to the Environmental Protection Ministry.

The Libyan-owned vessel turned off its automatic identification system (AIS) – which transmits its location to other ships in the area, as it entered Egyptian waters.

It turned the AIS on as it went through the Suez Canal, and then off again as it approached Israel’s shores.
The ship remained within tens of kilometers of Israel’s shores, within Israel’s economic waters, for nearly a full day, spilling large amounts of oil on February 1-2, with its AIS off.
Then it continued on to Syria, where it turned on its transmitter, and it returned to Iran, turning off its AIS as it passed Israel. It is currently in Iran.

The tar from the oil spillage reached Israel’s shores on February 17, causing untold damage to the Israeli coastline and its natural habitats.

Biden administration cannot return to Iran deal – JINSA

Author: Published: March 4, 2021

Iran has sought to put tougher restrictions on IAEA inspections and Iran has been using advanced centrifuges at its Natanz and Fordow facilities

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

MARCH 3, 2021 20:04
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a virtual speech, on the occasion of the Prophet Mohammad's birthday, in Tehran, Iran November 3, 2020. (photo credit: OFFICIAL KHAMENEI WEBSITE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a virtual speech, on the occasion of the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday, in Tehran, Iran November 3, 2020.
(photo credit: OFFICIAL KHAMENEI WEBSITE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
The Gemunder Center’s Iran Policy Project of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) released a report on Wednesday arguing that “simply abiding by the letter of the JCPOA would leave Iran with too advanced a nuclear program for the United States to accept and too many economic constraints for Tehran to abide.”

The new US administration of President Joe Biden came into office hoping to reduce tensions with Iran and possibly reverse many of the Trump administration’s policies in the Middle East. The Biden administration has listened keenly to Israel’s concerns.
JINSA president and CEO Dr. Michael Makovsky argued Wednesday that “Right now Washington and Tehran are arguing over who should take the first step to reenter the JCPOA, but that may be the smallest of the many hurdles to reviving the nuclear agreement.”
He notes that it may not be possible to ever return to the JCPOA as it was pre-2018 without damaging US interests. “Despite Tehran’s adamancy that it can easily and quickly walk back all its violations, its work on newer centrifuges and construction of new facilities has already irreversibly advanced its nuclear program beyond the four corners of the JCPOA,” he says.
The new report warns against Washington trying to get back to a nuclear deal by giving up too many sanctions, in exchange for too few nuclear concessions from Tehran. “Thus, the first step in realizing the Biden’s Administration’s oft-stated desire to pursue a more comprehensive agreement should be to recognize there is no returning to the JCPOA,” the report argues.
In recent weeks, Iran has sought to put tougher restrictions on International Atomic Energy Commission inspections – and Iran has been using advanced centrifuges at its Natanz and Fordow facilities, according to reports. The IAEA has expressed concern that the Islamic Republic has undeclared nuclear material. This has raised alarm bells because Iran eschewed meeting with the US in Europe and is playing hardball, demanding that America lift sanctions.
THANKS TO Israel’s seizure of Iranian nuclear archives in 2018, we now also know much more about how Iran has been acting in bad faith all along and never fully complied with the original agreement. Tehran returning to the JCPOA would mean leaving these issues unaddressed, and therefore, its nuclear progress would be under even fewer restraints than under the original deal.

Newer Posts Older Posts