On Friday, Axios reported that President Joe Biden’s senior Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, and acting U.S. envoy to Iran Abram Paley held talks (through intermediaries) with Iran’s political deputy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ali Bagheri Kani, last week in Muscat, Oman.
(Note: Following the sudden death of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a Sunday helicopter crash, Bagheri Kani was named Iran’s acting foreign minister. He is best known as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator. If the location of Muscat, Oman, sounds familiar, it is because the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran often take place there — the most memorable being those that led to the unfortunate 2015 nuclear deal.)
“Two sources” familiar with the talks told Axios the officials discussed ways to prevent the war in Gaza from escalating into a regional war. According to the sources, “talks focused on clarifying the consequences of actions by Iran and its proxies in the region and to discuss U.S. concerns regarding the status of Iran’s nuclear program.”
The New York Times reported the purpose of the talks was to “try to get Iran … to move to rein in its partners.”
No big deal, right? But if a new report from the Middle East Eye is accurate, there was far more on the agenda than preventing a wider war or reining in Iranian terrorist proxies. The media outlet claimed on Tuesday that the parties discussed ways to achieve their common objective: to bring about regime change in Israel.
According to their sources, in addition to containing the fighting, U.S. and Iranian officials discussed their “shared desire for a change in government in Israel” and “ending Israel’s war on Gaza.”
It’s as bad as it sounds. Representatives from the U.S. government reportedly sat down with high-ranking officials from the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror to determine how they might topple the duly elected prime minister of Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, from power.
One source noted that the negotiations had been “progressing well” and that the parties, working through a mediator, “were close to reaching some sort of agreement.” But due to the weekend deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, the talks have been put on hold until a new president is elected. (Under Iranian law, the election must take place within 50 days of the death of a president.)
After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) brazen call for new elections in Israel from the Senate floor in March and Biden’s abrupt decision to pause a shipment of 3,500 bombs to Israel to deter them from invading Rafah earlier this month, this latest betrayal comes as no surprise. But that doesn’t make it any less appalling.
To be fair, this is just one report coming from a news outlet that is reportedly funded by the Qatari government. A fact check from Media Bias rates the Middle East Eye as a “left-center” source of news. Additionally, the sources of these allegations are anonymous.
But, given Biden’s obvious disdain for Netanyahu, his growing track record of betrayal, and his administration’s humiliating history of appeasement toward Iran, I find the story to be at least plausible. As Israel fights for its very survival, the Biden administration already has been actively undermining it.
For example, Biden’s obsession with providing humanitarian support for the Palestinians has prolonged the war. And most of the food, water, and fuel sent into Gaza is commandeered by Hamas anyway.
Likewise, his administration’s irrational pursuit of a Palestinian state is an impossible dream that runs contrary to Israel’s national security interests, as does his administration’s recent efforts to exploit the divisions among Israel’s three-member war cabinet.
It is obvious Biden is completely fed up with Netanyahu’s refusal to allow the U.S. to control the war. Back in January, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that “the Biden administration is looking past Netanyahu to try to achieve its goals in the region.” She explained that they were “trying to lay the groundwork with other Israeli and civil society leaders in anticipation of an eventual post-Netanyahu government.”
Netanyahu had better watch his back. Biden is a ruthless enemy and he has an election to win. He and his minions will stop at nothing to achieve victory.
A previous version of this article appeared in the Washington Examiner.
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This is a good example that ties the Biden administration to the Obama administration. To many of us, it is obvious how Biden is playing with the muslims to get Netanyahu behind bars, just the same was as Biden’s administration is trying to put Trump behind bars.