U.S., Israel seek common ground on proxies amid divisions over Iran deal
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Version 0 of 1. HUSSEIN LOOKOUT, Israel — From this military outpost overlooking southern Lebanon, top U.S. and Israeli officials stood together Monday as they sought to play down divisions over last week’s nuclear deal with Tehran and get on with efforts to counter Iranian influence and other threats along Israel’s borders. The vantage point took in both Lebanon, where Israeli officials say Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters have amassed a huge arsenal of rockets aiming south, and the Golan Heights, beyond which Sunni extremists in Syria threaten one another and, potentially, Israel. Those security concerns loomed large as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon toured the outpost. Disagreements about whether the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program will make Israel safer or more vulnerable, and confusion about whether the United States will provide new assistance to Israel to make up for it, underscore the challenges the two countries face as they recalibrate relations after the accord. Carter, in one of his stops this week in Middle Eastern countries dismayed by the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It will be the highest-level visit between the countries since the accord — which the Israeli leader denounced— was reached last week in Vienna. As the United Nations voted Monday to back the agreement, Netanyahu again warned of its dangers, saying it would provide Iran hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used for military purposes and could trigger an arms race across the Middle East. “They say that this agreement makes war more distant,” he said in remarks at the Knesset. “This is not true. This agreement brings war closer.” Congress has 60 days to review the accord before voting on whether to accept or reject it. President Obama has vowed to veto any resolution of disapproval. [Israeli leaders condemn Iran deal, ‘one of the darkest days in world history’] Speaking to reporters at the Defense Ministry, Yaalon and Carter acknowledged differences about the deal but struck a more conciliatory note. They sought to emphasize areas of agreement related to Israeli security and U.S. goals in the region, including the threat posed by the Islamic State and other Sunni Islamist groups. Yaalon said Israel will need time, perhaps until the end of the year, to thoroughly analyze the effect the accord would have on its security. But he said he expected the deal to strengthen Iran’s conventional military reach and its support for militant groups, including Hezbollah, the heavily armed Shiite movement in Lebanon, and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. Carter argued that although the agreement would not address all such threats, it would block Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “Friends can disagree about whether it will work, and we’ll be watching Iran very closely to see, but there’s no disagreement about the ultimate objective,” he said. [From fear of war to diplomatic accord: The steps to a nuclear agreement] Officials said Carter’s visit, which was planned before the nuclear talks wrapped up, was a sign of continuing U.S.-Israeli security cooperation. The United States provides Israel with about $3 billion a year in military aid and has helped it build an array of defenses against short- and long-range missiles. Military officials stress that Carter did not come to Israel to offer a major boost in military financing or any new weapons systems in the wake of the deal. At the same time, Israeli officials have rejected the idea of accepting new military aid as a sort of compensation, even as both countries talk about the need to renew a long-term arrangement for military financing that will expire in 2018. “Any kind of aid that will be offered now will immediately raise questions — if we need aid, does that mean we are in danger?” Silvan Shalom, Israel’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, told reporters in Jerusalem on Monday. “If this agreement is so good and will bring an end to Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear capacity, then why do we need it?” [Despite nuclear deal, U.S. and Iran locked in regional shadow war] It remains unknown what the rise of Sunni Islamist groups such as the Islamic State, which has grown strong in the chaos of Syria’s war, will ultimately mean for Israel. For now, Israel appears to benefit when Iranian-allied Hezbollah and Syrian forces take on the Sunni fighters. Faysal Itani, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, said it is too soon to determine the extent to which sanctions relief under the nuclear deal would enhance the military might of Iran — and, consequently, that of Hezbollah. He said that Hezbollah has grown stronger but that its anti-Israel activities have been limited in recent years as the group pours resources and fighters into its effort to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran. “Will it transform Hezbollah’s capability against Israel? No, I don’t think so,” Itani said. “Might it result eventually in a more sophisticated military capability for Iran itself, that could then be passed on to Hezbollah? Possible, but that would take a while.” Ruth Eglash in Jerusalem contributed to this report. 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