US negotiations with Iran, which aimed to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, have provided the perfect cover for Israel’s surprising attacks, the Wall Street Journal said in a commentary on Friday.
In sixth round talks between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkov and his Iranian counterpart set Sunday in Oman, Israel and US officials warned of military action if Iran does not agree to end its nuclear enrichment program.
Instead, Israel was the first hit, killing three top Iranian generals and a nuclear scientist.
“I gave Iran the opportunity to make a deal,” Trump wrote in a social media post Friday morning, but “they couldn’t get it.” He claimed that Israeli strikes were carried out due to Tehran’s incompromise.
For months, Trump regularly insists on giving him the opportunity to succeed in diplomacy before turning to military forces, and the planned meeting in Muscat was to become another step in his high stakes journey.
Iran was expected to respond to Witkov’s proposal of a framework to resolve conflicts over Tehran’s nuclear program. Both were at the logger head. The US argued that Iran must ultimately stop enriching uranium. Tehran refused. However, the expectations were that discussions would continue.
Former US Middle East Peace negotiator Aaron David Miller said the White House was so opposed to Israeli military strikes that it was not ready to put US-Israel relations on the perimeter. Israel was given a “green light of plausible rejection,” he said. On Thursday, Trump said he doesn’t think Israel’s attacks are imminent. He also said Washington and Tehran were “very close to a pretty good deal,” but Iran would need to make further compromises to avoid conflict.
Hours later, Israel launched hundreds of fighter jets in several waves, attacking targets across Iran.
But Trump admitted on Friday that he knew Israel would attack Iran.
“There’s no doubt Witkoff’s mission was a major contributor to surprise,” said Dennis Ross, a senior Middle Eastern affairs official between Democrats and Republican administrations. “The Iranians would have assumed that Israel would not attack while the meeting was underway and the meeting was about to take place.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the possibility of an attack on Iran on Monday in a call with Trump, two officials said. Soon after that, the US began moving several diplomats and military dependents out of the Middle East. Trump administration officials told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Israel is ready to hit Iran within days.
Trump administration officials claimed Thursday night that Witkoff was still planning to attend Sunday’s talk. However, the possibility of his meeting with Iranian interlocutors appeared to be uncertain for Tehran to swear that Israeli and Iranian officials would accuse Washington of being complicit in Israeli attacks.
US officials did not respond to questions that Thursday night when the White House first learned that Israel was planning to attack before Witkov’s Sunday meeting in Oman.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the United States is not involved in Israel’s strike. However, he did not rule out the US role in helping Israel protect itself from Tehran’s retaliation. This is a scenario where Washington can be drawn into the conflict and drive the Pentagon to rush towards the Middle East.
Some former US officials say it’s not easy for Trump to distance himself from Israeli military operations. Israeli airstrikes were that many of them were buried and disbanded could not destroy Iran’s nuclear program. This could allow Iran to secretly continue its nuclear program. Another long-standing fear was that Iran might respond to Israeli strikes by assaulting oil cargo in the US bases in the region, in Washington’s Arab allies and in the Persian Gulf.
Earlier this year, Trump initially proposed a two-month timeframe for successful negotiations. The deadline reached Thursday.
But there has been more hopeful speculation for weeks that the threat of Israeli or American military action could potentially enable Witkov’s diplomacy by pressureing Tehran to reduce its nuclear program and succumb to demand to stop a uranium-rich halt.
Trump has repeatedly said he supports diplomatically solving Iran’s nuclear issue. “We continue to be committed to a diplomatic resolution on Iran’s nuclear issue!” Trump wrote on Thursday about the true society before the Israeli strike progressed.
However, some Iranians have seen the hands of Americans in Israeli military operations. And some former US officials say it’s not easy for Trump to distance himself from Israeli military operations.
Former US Middle East Peace negotiator Aaron David Miller said the White House was so opposed to Israeli military strikes that it was not ready to put US-Israel relations on the perimeter. Israel was given a “green light of plausible rejection,” he said.