Our amazing, courageous warrior President Donald J. Trump

Full accounting, all the uranium, complete dismantlement. That’s what it should mean to swear off nuclear weapons. We are still dealing with a terrorist group the IRGC. Strong skepticism warranted for these talks combined with optimism over what has already been accomplished.

There is no evidence that the Islamic regime in Iran wants to change their ideology, their geopolitical ambitions, their goal for an Imamate, their support for militias. They will open the Hormuz strait, let go of the dust, and lie about the future, to obtain billions of dollars. Giving them time and opportunities are a grave challenge to US national security.

Statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the press conference last night: ​"Dear citizens of Israel, ​For decades, I have been fighting against Iran’s efforts to arm itself with nuclear weapons. I can define it as my life’s mission. I have met this challenge to this day, and I will continue to meet it in the future. With an agreement, without an agreement – Iran will not have nuclear weapons. Not today, and not tomorrow. As long as I am Prime Minister of Israel – this will not happen. ​I hear people asking: What have we achieved? And my response to them is: "What have we achieved"?! We have fended off an immediate threat of annihilation. Together with our American friends, we launched the largest offensive air operation in Israel’s history. We neutralized nuclear scientists, decapitated the leaders of the terror regime, pulverized nuclear facilities, destroyed missiles and the vast majority of the factories that produce them, struck countless military industries and infrastructures, destroyed their navy, their air force, neutralized Basij commanders who massacred the Iranian people, and caused enormous damage. We estimate it in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and some even estimate it to be closer to a trillion dollars – enormous damage to the economy of Iran that took them decades to build. ​But here is the most important thing: we saved the State of Israel from the threat of nuclear annihilation. Because, it is crucial to understand, Iran was racing toward a nuclear weapon just before Operation Rising Lion; it was racing toward a nuclear weapon and racing to bury its missile and nuclear industry deep underground. ​If we had not acted at the time we did, and with the overwhelming force with which we did – both in Operation Rising Lion and later in Operation Roaring Lion, in historic cooperation with President Trump and the American military – if we had not acted in this way, Iran would already have atomic bombs. And what does that mean? It means that millions of Israeli citizens, you who are listening to me now, you would all have been in terrible danger of mass death. All of us would have been in that danger. And this danger, of the elimination of Israel’s population, we have fended off for years to come. That is what we have achieved – we saved the State of Israel from annihilation. ​But I tell you, citizens of Israel, the struggle is not over and done. We will need to maintain our vigilance, remain strong and determined to defend ourselves as required. This is true not only vis-à-vis Iran. This is also true vis-à-vis Iran’s terror proxies, which we have hit in an unprecedented manner. We did it in Gaza, we did it in Lebanon, in Syria, in Yemen, we did it in the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria – we did it everywhere. ​We eliminated Deif, Haniyeh, and Sinwar, along with many of Hamas's leaders. Actually, almost everyone who was there during the horrific massacre; I think there is one more left, he too will be eliminated. We destroyed thousands of terrorists and countless terror infrastructures. We returned all our hostages from Gaza, down to the very last one. No one believed we would do that. I did. I was told: Prime Minister, we must give up, don't enter Rafah, end the war – we will bring the hostages and we will frame our exit from Gaza as a victory. I did not accept this nonsense. We entered Rafah, we entered Gaza City, contrary to the opinions of many – and we returned all the hostages, to the last one. And not only that, we exploded the pagers, we eliminated the arch-enemy Nasrallah, we prevented the invasion of the Radwan Force into the Galilee, we destroyed the vast majority of the 150,000 rockets and missiles that Nasrallah built in order to devastate the cities of Israel. ​You remember what we were told: If we go to battle with Hezbollah, we will have tens of thousands of casualties, the towers will come down in Tel Aviv, in Haifa, in Jerusalem, in Be'er- Sheva; Israeli cities will be reduced to ruins. You remember that. I did not accept that, we fought them, and we fought them hard; we also captured their key positions like the Beaufort, which Hezbollah had used for years to threaten the northern communities, and in fact the entire country. ​Simultaneously, we did another thing: we established deep security zones around the State of Israel. We did it in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria – where, by the way, we destroyed all the weaponry of the Assad army, which was a central link in the Axis of Evil. And I wish to clarify: we will remain in the security zones for as long as it is required to defend our country. ​Because after October 7th, I established a simple principle: Israel will not allow terror organizations to encamp on our borders; to tunnel into our territory; to prepare for a massacre close to our citizens. Today, the heroic IDF fighters stand as barrier between the terrorists and our citizens. What we did, in fact, was change our entire security doctrine; change ourselves as well. We broke the barrier of fear. We take initiative, we attack, we surprise, and we strike at those who threaten our lives. ​Israel is stronger than ever, and Iran’s Axis of Evil is weaker than ever. If someone had told you at the beginning of the war that we would achieve everything I have detailed, and I haven't detailed everything – you would have said they were hallucinating. Just talk, just promises – no, we did all that. And today, after we have achieved all this, there are those who want to minimize it, to dismiss our tremendous achievements. And I tell you: we are going to achieve many more great things. We will continue to neutralize threats in the region, we will build new alliances with countries in the region and beyond. We will ensure our own domestic armament independence, this is another principle I established, and I am investing 350 billion NIS in that, as a supplement to the defense budget. We will develop technologies that break the boundaries of imagination, and we will turn Israel into an even stronger power. Because our strength is the key to our future, it is the key to our security, it is the key to our economy, it is the key to our alliances. Because alliances are made with the strong, and Israel today is a very strong country. It is strong thanks to you, citizens of Israel. ​I wish to thank you, citizens of Israel, for your steadfastness, for the support you give to the government and for the support you give me as the Prime Minister. And above all, I wish to thank our heroic fighters, men and women in active duty and in the reserves, at sea, on land, and in the air, in the IDF and in all the security branches. There is no one like you, heroes of Israel. ​Together we will continue to stand, and together we will continue to win. "Fear not, O Jacob My servant, and be not dismayed, O Israel!" Together, with God's help, we will ensure the eternity of Israel."

The US will be backing a 300 billion fund to be used by the Islamic regime in "rebuilding Iran." There will be "checks, monitoring, evaluations, mechanisms, evaluations, tests," and all the litany of modern day controls. But the regime is not a multinational corporation, it is a Jihadi regime. It will maneuver, navigate, bribe, use Qatar and Oman, and perform maximum Taqiya, to cash, diversify, survive, until the Trump administration leaves. Then it will grab the totality of the 300 billion, twice the size of the Obama deal of 150 billion. Inexperienced capitalism cannot absorb Jihadism. Jihadism absorbs capitalism.

Nothing we do in terms of a deal will change the behavior of this enemy.  If you don't believe that you do not know what we are dealing with.  If you do believe that you know that for them deals are made to be broken. Put aside all the idiocy and static about who loves whom and who does not.  That's the game of online thugs and bots. We are dealing with an ideologically committed terror state that has slaughtered thousands of our fellow Americans, thousands of people in surrounding countries, thousands of Iranians and, as President Trump said, sought nuclear weapons so they could actually use them to kill us.   There was a time, not long ago, when we never negotiated with terrorists or terror regimes.  Today, we've dealt with intermediaries and now directly with terrorists.  And a senior administration official even declared some or many of them now believe their 47-years of murder, rape, torture, and terrorism was a mistake.  Pretty shocking.  This regime is still executing innocent young people at a record pace.  You wouldn't know it during the last several days.  They don't even come up anymore.  The reporters don't even ask about them.   Exactly how has this regime changed?  Yes, former leaders are gone, but the regime remains, the ideology remains, the IRGC remains, and as you can tell, they are not rolling over.  We are much more accommodating than we were at the outset.  Let's not fool ourselves.  This is why all the pressure and berating of Israel and Netanyahu.  They simply cannot and must not accommodate the enemy as we wish, and in ways we would never tolerate on our homeland, or in ways the Arabs or Turkey or Pakistan insist on.   We can't be browbeaten by online thugs into silence or sit ignorantly while all this is swirling around, and we wait for the actual language of the MOU.  We want the information and we want to express our opinions.  Again, this isn't about what team you are on or loyalty tests or whatever.  This is a big damn deal and we, as a people and a nation, want to get it right.  And as far as I am concerned, many of us are ardent supporters of the president and the administration and want to be helpful and provide our own input based on our experiences and knowledge.  Indeed, not everyone in government has all the answers and too damn many of them leak and push their own policies and agendas apart from the president's.   I know for a fact that Donald Trump is a great and historic president.  I know he is a decent and compassionate man who cares deeply about all of this.  The same can be said about Benjamin Netanyahu, who lost his brother in war and was himself injured in battle.  The Israeli ambassador lost his eldest son in the early days of the war against Hamas in Gaza.  Neither of our nations are led by dictators or kings, like those that surround Israel.  And we are dealing with a death cult that has seized control of Iran and has more blood on its hands than can be measured.   The Iranian regime has not and will never change its ideology.  And therein lies the problem, as nearly half a century of evil behavior has demonstrated and their own religious and political leaders and books and preachings make clear.  They are about a cause, a revolution.  They will not rest until it is exported everywhere, as Allah is said to command them.  That is the reality.  We are the enemy and must be destroyed. Those who insist a deal can be made and that it is preferable, then they have to prove it.  That's the way our system works.  I, for one, am glad about it.

Negotiating and signing that MOU while ignoring Iranian nations and its people is the most disrespectful act to Iranians. Our struggle for freedom in Iranian Kurdistan with leadership of @PDKI_USA @PDKIenglish will continue until they achieve a tall victory over the terror regime and the IRGC.

- One of our greatest advantages is our alliances and specifically with Israel. And the IRGC wants to drive a wedge between us. - Restraining Israel should not be part of a deal with Iran. Hezbollah is already required to disarm accoring to multiple UNSCRs and Lebanon is required to disarm it. - Israel cannot afford not to defend itself and we should expect it to continue to do so.

Yes, absolutely - I taught Spc. Forces at Ft. Bragg for 4 years - know what small units cross-border can do for UW insurgency - but they’ve not been activated - nor have arms, comms, intel & public diplomacy been surged to support Iranian people…need to get to it asap

14/And: "We really do want to get to a place where we can unsanction a lot of the Iranian economy, where we can unfreeze these assets, but it requires the Iranians to do some of the things that they're promising to do." (My take: You know what? If the Knicks can win the NBA Championship after more than 50 years ...)

13/They sounded many hopeful notes, which is a rarity in this situation: "Hopefully, we can find a way to create a new framework for the region based on modern times, modern aspirations, and people don't need to kind of create these instability against an enemy, maybe they can focus on having a real peace."

12/This was a somewhat clarifying statement re: Israeli forces in Lebanon: "Their withdrawal was not a condition of the deal. The deal is a ceasefire, and it will not be a one-way ceasefire, meaning that if Iran is not able to control Hezbollah, and if they attack Israeli positions or Israeli towns, Israel will have the right to defend themselves and respond."

11/they don't seem to have sorted that out just yet: "that'll be based on performance that we get together this week and talk about what we want to do and when we do it."

10/It seems they want to have some early confidence building measures, which is normal: "I think what you'll see is that we are prepared to release frozen funds, and we are prepared to release sanctions, and we'll do some small gestures of that in the beginning, if they make some small gestures to us." BUT ...

9/Don't even get me started on the references to the GCC.

8/Why do I suspect they haven't really studied the JCPOA & Iran-US history? Because of statements like this: "If you go back to the JCPOA, the Supreme Leader just doesn't sign these agreements." But nobody *signed* the JCPOA. It was a political arrangement, not a signed accord.

7/One SAO suggested that some Iranian leaders want to give up the nuclear route & echo Gulf Arab state econ models. This was fascinating & at odds with what many analysts believe: "There's not as much commitment to the old pathway of the old Supreme Leader, and I think that there's a lot of new people in there saying, well, this is stupid. It hasn't worked and hasn't yielded results."

6/Re: US troops in the region: The "plan is to keep the current force posture" amid negotiations for now. But also "the agreement contemplates the reduction in military forces in the region upon the agreement of a final deal." My bet: US troops will be there for quite a while.

5/They said "one of the really cool things and interesting things about this entire process is that we actually have a direct relationship with a number of people at the highest levels of the Iranian government. That really hasn't happened in 47 years of our relationship with Iran." This is not a huge thing, but it suggests they haven't really done their research on US-Iran relations. (See: JCPOA talks.)

4/They do not seem to have a good grasp of US sanctions law. They laid out the possibility of a $300 billion investment fund for Iran. And one said at one point that "the sanctions relief is not tied specifically to any particular conduct. It's tied generally to them behaving more appropriately, and obviously the thing that we care the most about is the nuclear program." But sanctions are specific to particular conduct.

3/Their comments were unclear on the status of the MOU. They said the details will be released in the next 24-48 hours, but that "this is really just the first MOU. And then we're going to launch into the real technical discussions later this week that the Vice President will continue to lead these negotiations."