Last week, CUFI founder and Chairman Pastor John Hagee authored an op-ed
for Newsweek

in which he offered a stark assessment of the Biden administration's
approach towards Iran. A key component of Pastor Hagee's piece was his
focus on the pivotal role Congress must play if we are to avoid seeing
generations of "Americans, Israelis and the rest of the free world"
suffer from President Biden's repeated miscalculations concerning
Tehran. In this week's Action Update, we provide the latest
developments regarding where things stand with Congress, the Iranians,
the Europeans, and Israel, and then discuss what may come next.

State of Play

A lot has happened in recent days in the context of the Iran deal.
First, 50 members of the House of Representatives, including 34
Democrats and 16 Republicans, sent a letter to President Biden
exemplifying Pastor Hagee's point that there is widespread bipartisan
concern with President Biden's approach to the Islamic Republic. The
Members of Congress discussed several elements of the reported details
of the deal that cause them pause, with a particular emphasis on the
"an estimated one trillion dollars in sanctions relief over a
decade," that Iran is set to receive under the current terms of the
agreement.

The group of elected officials, led by Reps. Gottheimer (D-NJ) and
Garbarino (R-NY), went on to note, "Amid Iran-sponsored terror plots
to assassinate former U.S. officials and Iranian-American dissidents on
American soil, this is no time to remove, suspend, or dilute U.S.
terrorism sanctions on Iran or the IRGC."

Capitol Hill isn't the only place where there is extreme trepidation
with what is known about the potential deal. In Israel, Prime Minister
Lapid has made no secret of his country's feelings about the impending
agreement, and he recently made some very strong statements during a
visit to an Israeli Air Force base (but more on that in a minute).

The European powers are still myopically focused on getting something
signed regardless of whether or not such a piece of paper actually stops
Iran from acquiring a nuclear capability. Lately, they've been
expressing pessimism about the once imminent deal coming to fruition. 

Josep Borrell, the European Union's head of foreign affairs, recently
said, "the last interaction is not converging, it is diverging... That
is very much worrisome if the process does not converge. The whole
process is in danger."

If it seems like we've been here before, that's because in many ways
we have. The Iranians push for more, the Americans appear hesitant, and
the Europeans - likely as a negotiating tactic - lament the
potential death of the process. The question is, who are the Europeans
trying to influence with these wild swings of optimism and pessimism?

Maybe we're giving them too much credit; after all, if any of the
Western powers had a decent negotiator in the room we wouldn't be
talking about such a weak and worthless deal. But either way, we're
not taking anything for granted. We're not in the room, so we can't
predict the parties' next moves. And neither is Israel. So where are
we going from here? Sadly, but increasingly likely, we're headed to
plan B.

Plan B

During Prime Minister Lapid's aforementioned visit to the Nevatim Air
Force Base, he spoke with clarity and offered a warning to both the weak
and the tyrannical, "It is still too early to know if we have indeed
succeeded in stopping the nuclear agreement, but Israel is prepared for
every threat and every scenario."

"If Iran continues to test us, it will discover Israel's long arm
and capabilities. We will continue to act on all fronts against
terrorism and against those who seek to harm us," Lapid went on to say
while standing in front of the advanced Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jet
(reported to already have penetrated Iranian airspace on multiple
occasions).

Lapid's comments come on the heels of the announcement that Israel
will be purchasing four KC-46A tanker jets. These are massive mid-air
refueling aircraft that extend the range of attack jets. We don't want
to get ahead of ourselves, as the planes wouldn't be arriving until
2025 and 2026, but such planes are vital to any long-range attack
scenario, and, well, you can use your imagination from there.

The Israelis know that at the end of the day, they must be able to rely
on themselves for protection and deterrence. This week marks the 50th
anniversary of the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich
Olympic games. It also marks the anniversary of the 2007 Israeli attack
on Syria's nuclear reactor - which destroyed that country's
nuclear program and likely saved countless Syrian lives given the civil
war that began just a few years later.

The name of the Israeli operation to assassinate those responsible for
the Munich terror attack was Operation Wrath of God. The attack on
Syria's nuclear plant was dubbed Operation Outside the Box. If history
has shown us anything it's that the Israelis will think outside the
box and rain hell down upon those who would seek to harm them. We hope
it never comes to that, but if it does, Tehran would do well to remember
that the Israelis have never lost, and terrorism has never won.
Regardless of how these events play out, we'll be in Washington
working to ensure Israel has the tools and space it needs to keep her
people and her country safe.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team

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