The United States is expected to give Israel “an unprecedented package” in exchange for its agreement to last week’s Iran nuclear deal, according to U.S and Israeli officials.
Sources said the package under consideration had been in the $3.7 billion range, but Israel expected this to be much higher.
They say Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon expects significant “compensation” from the U.S. and that U.S State Department officials have confirmed they were considering upping the package if Israel gives its OK to the agreement, under which Iran’s nuclear program will be curbed for a decade in exchange for relief from international sanctions which are expected to be worth billions of dollars.
Many key sanctions such as those pertaining to financial and energy sectors, could be removed by the end of this year.
Sources in Israel said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been complaining about the initial package saying the fact that the US was willing to “pay him off “shows the Iran deal was “bad” for Israel and that they would increase what was on offer.
Foreign Affairs experts said that Israeli holding off on giving the deal the green light was a gamble for the Israeli leadership. They said that if it looks like Israeli lobby’s efforts won’t secure a veto-proof congress majority to kill the deal, the administration may decide Israel should not be bought off, or that the package should not be as much as Israel thought was fair.
Today the Iran deal, took one step closer to being made official with the U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsing it.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will be in Israel this week but is not expected to present an offer – a direct response to Netanyahu’s refusal to even discuss the subject in talks with President Obama last week.
Stay Connected
