From his decision to speak in English to the simplicity of the slides he unveiled, Netanyahu’s presentation appeared to be aimed one specific person: Donald Trump<\/b>
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage in Tel Aviv on Monday to expose what he said was more than a decade of Iranian nuclear deception. Critics said he didn\u2019t reveal anything new. That may never have been the point.
From his decision to speak in English to the simplicity of the slides he unveiled \u2014 including one that just said \u201cIran Lied\u201d \u2014 Netanyahu\u2019s presentation appeared to be aimed at an audience of one: Donald Trump. And the U. S. president, who is days away from deciding whether to pull out of the Iran nuclear accord, was listening.
\u201cWhat\u2019s happening today and what\u2019s happened over the last little while and what we\u2019ve learned has really shown that I\u2019ve been 100 percent right,\u201d Trump told reporters in Washington afterward, saying he watched \u201ca bit\u201d of Netanyahu\u2019s performance.
The Israeli premier theatrically pulled away black curtains to reveal shelves full of binders and compact discs, saying they contained material spirited out of a top-secret location in Tehran, and proved that Iran had pursued a secret plan to build nuclear bombs.
Oil held gains above $68 a barrel as Israel\u2019s accusations stoked speculation Trump may reimpose sanctions on OPEC\u2019s third-biggest oil producer.
The presentation probably didn\u2019t come as a surprise to Trump. The two leaders had spoken over the weekend, just as new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israel and other key Middle East allies. What it did give Trump was material he can cite as evidence if he decides to take America out of an agreement he\u2019s called the \u201cworst deal ever.\u201d
Late Monday, Pompeo gave one of the clearest signals so far that that\u2019s the president\u2019s intent. \u201cNow that the world knows Iran has lied and is still lying, it is time to revisit the question of whether Iran can be trusted to enrich or control any nuclear material,\u201d the secretary of state said.
Iran has long said its nuclear program was for civilian purposes and that it is committed to never developing atomic weapons. On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called Netanyahu\u2019s claims \u201ca rehash of old allegations.\u201d
Some analysts agreed \u2014 but said they could still serve their purpose.
\u201cIt was clear over the course of the address that it really wasn\u2019t intended to make any new charges,\u201d Suzanne Maloney, deputy director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, said of Netanyahu\u2019s speech. The point \u201cwas to underscore the lack of veracity on the part of the Iranian leadership, and that was done very effectively.\u201d
Like Trump, Netanyahu is a vehement critic of the nuclear agreement, reached between Iran, the EU, U. S., Russia, China, Germany, France and the U. K. His presentation suggested that Iran can\u2019t be trusted, even if it\u2019s complying with a deal both men despise.
Europe\u2019s response to Netanyahu was to argue that if you don\u2019t trust someone, that\u2019s all the more reason to keep them where you can see them \u2014 in this case, under one of the toughest nuclear-inspection regimes ever imposed.
Those stringent measures were necessary \u201cexactly because there was no trust between the parties,\u201d said the European Union\u2019s foreign minister, Federica Mogherini. It was a message the president also heard, but never publicly endorsed, when hosting French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington last week.
\u201cWe\u2019ve always known they were lying, that\u2019s why we did what we did,\u201d said Jarrett Blanc, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Department coordinator for Iran nuclear implementation. \u201cWe don\u2019t need them to fess up to everything, we need them to stop doing it.\u201d
While international monitors endorsed by the UN have long insisted that Iran remains in compliance with the agreement, for Trump and his closest advisers, that\u2019s never really mattered. They coined the term \u201ctactical compliance\u201d to reflect their belief that Iran is meeting the terms of the deal in name only while it continues to fund terror groups, destabilize the Middle East and develop ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.
Netanyahu provided more grist for a skeptical U. S. administration, saying the documents Israel recovered prove that despite its commitment never to pursue a nuclear weapon, Iran was always just biding its time and planned to resume the pursuit of a nuclear weapon when it wanted to.
\u201cThe Iran deal is based on lies, it\u2019s based on Iranian lies and Iranian deception,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cAnd in a few days\u2019 time, President Trump will decide, will make a decision on what to do with the nuclear deal. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll do the right thing.\u201d
Trump\u2019s administration has begun to reveal elements of a broader plan if he does withdraw. Speaking alongside Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, the president said regardless of the outcome on May 12, \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean we won\u2019t negotiate a real agreement.\u201d
Macron laid out one possible scenario when he met with Trump in Washington last week, suggesting supplementary agreements could be reached that would curtail Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions forever, stop its development of ballistic missiles that could carry such weapons, and constrain its regional influence.<\/p>\n

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