Photo Credit: Marc Israel Sellem / POOL / Flash 90
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz

Israel’s Minister of Energy, Water and National Infrastructure, Yuval Steinitz, says if he were an American, he would oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran.

In particular, Steinitz has aimed his remarks at U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, with whom he met two month ago in Washington D.C.

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The two men discussed the Iranian nuclear issue at that time, along with other energy matters.

“If I were American, I would oppose the agreement,” Steinitz said.

“I would oppose the agreemenet because it ensures from the outset Iran’s becoming a nuclear power capable of producing dozens of atomic bombs per month, 10 years from today.

“I would oppose the agreement because it is likely to lead to a nuclear arms race between Iran and the Sunni Arab states – in complete contravention of the avowed policy of the U.S.

I would oppose the agreement because even in the short term, the inspections are not immediate and invasive, as was promised at the start.

I would oppose the agreement because it harms the national security of the United States, Israel and every Western country.”

As a matter of fact, as Steinitz points out, Iran does not intend to allow United Nations inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to enter military sites, as the public was led to believe.

Iranian security adviser Ali Akbar Velayati told an interviewer from Al Jazeera on July 31, “Regardless of how the P5+1 countries interpret the nuclear agreement, their entry into our military sites is absolutely forbidden.

“The entry of any foreigner, including IAEA inspectors or any other inspector, to the sensitive military sites of the Islamic Republic is forbidden, no matter what.”

Velayati added that if Israel “dared” to ever attack Iran, “The moment it initiates such a thing, important Israeli cities will be razed to the ground.”

The statement implies that Iran has powerfully destructive weapons on standby, located close enough to Israel that they can be launched in a heartbeat and still eliminate an entire city.

This can only mean that nuclear-level warheads already are designed and held in readiness for loading on to long-range missiles able to reach the Jewish State. Or, Iran has placed nuclear-powered weapons in the hands of the guerrilla fighters – or Iran’s own military troops – deployed on Israel’s borders.

It is common knowledge that Iran generously patronizes the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization as its proxy to the north of Israel.

To Israel’s south, Iran has until recently been supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorist organizations as well. Although there has been some friction between the two sides in recent weeks, it is believed Iran is still supporting the terrorists nevertheless.

The prospect of a new two-front war complicated by the possibility of atomic weapons arrayed against Israel from Gaza and/or the Sinai Peninsula in the south, and also in the hands of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in the north is sobering, to say the least.

Not impossible to deal with, but sobering.

This is undoubtedly one of the reasons that Israel’s Defense Forces have been carrying out nationwide military exercises non-stop over the past several months.

The deal signed with Iran by the U.S. and world powers does nothing so much as to further enable Iran to quietly develop its nuclear technology under the protective shield of Russia and America, without prying eyes or restraining economic sanctions to hold it back.

As the two great powers compete for the spoils, the Middle East meanwhile could fall victim between.

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.