On Tuesday morning, as Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was departing
for France to discuss Iran and Hezbollah with French President Emmanuel
Macron, Lapid sent a clear and unambiguous message to Israel's
neighbors to the north: if Lebanon doesn't "rein in" Hezbollah, Israel
will. In this week's Action Update, we delve into what prompted the
Prime Minister's comments, and a number of issues directly related to
the malign activities of Hezbollah and its backers in Tehran.

Hezbollah Drone Attacks

The Lebanese government - which is effectively under Hezbollah's
thumb - and Israel's democratically elected government in Jerusalem
do not agree on much. They are, however, presently seeking to resolve a
maritime dispute through diplomacy, not conflict.

Unfortunately, since it is, after all, an Iranian-sponsored terrorist
organization committed to wiping Israel off the face of the earth,
"diplomacy" isn't part of Hezbollah's lexicon. And, true to form,
the terrorist-army launched three drones on Saturday aimed at a recently
developed Israeli offshore gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea. The
platform was never in any real danger as the Israelis spotted, tracked
and destroyed the drones rather shortly after their launch. Nonetheless,
as Lapid noted, "Hezbollah should not play with fire." 

If the maritime dispute is to be resolved in a civilized manner, the
Lebanese cannot sit at the negotiating table with Israel while allowing
Hezbollah to hold a gun to Israel's head. Israel has shown in the past
that if Lebanese leaders are too cowardly to deal with Hezbollah, Israel
will take necessary action to protect its people and interests. We would
urge Beirut to heed Lapid's warning - but we aren't holding our
breath. 

An Axis of Evil

Iran is behind every Hezbollah action, and the Shiite extremists are
often aided by Russia, which holds enormous sway inside Syria after
effectively saving the Butcher of Damascus, Bashar al-Assad from losing
his grip on power.

That is likely why Russia reacted angrily in the wake of a recent
Israeli attack on an advanced Syrian air defense system provided to
Damascus by Iran. The Syrians, incidentally, claimed that Israel had hit
a chicken farm near the coastal city of Tartus, but if that indeed were
the case, one wonders why the Russians were so unhappy with what took
place. Maybe Putin really likes fried chicken (we'd certainly
understand that), or maybe all of the evil regimes we're talking about
are lying and Israel did some limited but effective damage.

Through Hezbollah and its own forces, Iran continues to position itself
to have an effective fighting force on Israel's northern border, and
Russia continues to aid and abet this conspiracy to commit genocide.
Spoiler alert: Israel isn't going to let that happen. Jerusalem
won't be deterred by strongly worded Russian statements or saber
rattling from Tehran and Damascus. Israel, like all free nations
(including Ukraine one might add), has a right and responsibility to
protect itself from those who would seek to destroy her. So, Vladimir
Putin can send all the missives he wants - Israel isn't going to
allow advanced weaponry to reach its enemies in Syria or Lebanon.

The Negotiations Are the Deal Iran Wants

At the core of all the above issues is Iran. And at the core of concerns
related to the Islamic Republic is Iran's continued and rapid
development of a nuclear weapons capability. The Biden administration
offered a very pessimistic review of the recent nuclear-related talks in
Doha, Qatar, which anyone following the issue could've predicted were
going nowhere. Conversely, the Iranians painted a rather rosy picture of
the Doha talks, with Iranian Foreign Minister referring to the talks as
"positive," and going on to add, "We are determined to continue
negotiating until a realistic agreement is reached."

Iran doesn't actually believe that progress on a deal was made in
Doha. But for them, things are indeed going quite well. That's because
Iran doesn't need a deal, they can make do by having negotiations go
on long enough for them to realize their nuclear-related ambitions while
rebuilding an economy no longer facing increased U.S. economic pressure.
That is why Iran continues to both advance its nuclear weapons program
and make totally outlandish and unrelated demands in any negotiations
with world-powers.

As things stand, Iran is achieving their desired results, and U.S.
policy objectives are going nowhere. As the President travels to the
Middle East next week, it is vital for Mr. Biden to make clear to
America's Arab and Israeli allies that he understands Iran's

**negotiate forever** strategy and recognizes that his initial
Obama-esque approach to containing Iran has completely and utterly
failed.

Next week's Action Update will come a bit later in the week so that we
can preview for our readers the 2022 CUFI Summit legislative agenda.
We're not announcing anything just yet, but rest assured, confronting
Iran is on the agenda. So, until then, thank you as always for taking
the time to stay informed and for your support of the CUFI Action Fund.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team

SUPPORT CUFI ACTION FUND
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

CUFI Action Fund, 233 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington, DC 20003, United States