Dr. Dan Diker, President of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News at the JNS Conference being held in Jerusalem.
Asked whether he is concerned about US President Donald Trump’s statements that he would rather negotiate a deal with Iran on its nuclear program than attack its nuclear facilities, Dr. Diker replied, “There's a lot of lack of clarity about what's happening with Iran. We know there have been a couple of rounds of talks. We know that President Trump has said he's not blocking or preventing a potential Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear installations, could be the regime…On the other hand, we know that President Donald Trump is first and foremost an economic warrior and he uses economic and political leverage in order to get adversaries and allies alike to do deals.”
He continued, “Trump has written ‘The Art of the Deal’ and he's in the middle of the biggest potential art of the deal opposite the Islamic Republic of Iran. Big question, will the art of the deal work with a regime that's no different than the Nazi regime, that's ISIS and Al-Qaeda with a state? It remains to be seen and Israel is waiting in the wings, giving the President the prerogative to attempt economic diplomacy, but very much sitting on pins and needles.”
On Saudi Arabia, Dr. Diker said, “Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, and President Trump, in our view, share a vision for a Middle East that is about to enter the 2030 Saudi vision, which is a Middle East that's driven by technology, a lot of it Israeli technology. The vision of MBS, a Middle East that is no longer dependent on its oil and gas power, but on brain power. This is what began in the first Trump administration.”
“There is really an alignment and a growing, intensifying understanding between the Saudi leadership and President Trump over these years that the Middle East can really become a global hub for transportation, for the development of manufacturing, for high technology. Israel plays a very important role in that vision,” he added.
He cautioned that the “big dream” of Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince could come at Israel’s expense, stating that the phrase “may the buyer beware” is more relevant than ever.
“It seems that Israel is way beyond the talking stage with the Iranian regime. Israel has known, not only because of having been attacked recently directly from Tehran, but it knows that the Iranian regime, politically, culturally, they're carpet weavers, they're chess players, and they will bear hug their adversaries in negotiations and go on, extend, and go on for years and years.”
“Israel knows it. Israel knows that time is short. The window is closing for a potential military strike in order to eliminate this death cult with a flag, with nuclear weapons, and its malign behavior subversive across the whole Middle East,” warned Dr. Diker.
The answer, he stated, “is a limited window of what we call economic diplomacy first, but the kind of diplomacy that Israel is, in my view, suggesting and that the President is aligned with, is a kind of diplomacy in which President Trump will dictate to the Iranian regime what should be happening. And if it's not happening, I think it's very possible, even probable, that we can see a military strike against Iran's nuclear installations.”