Formation of a Joint Committee by the U.S. and Israel 'to Increase Pressure' on the Iranian Government

Several news outlets in the U.S. and Israel reported on Tuesday, July 3, the formation of a joint committee by the governments of the two countries to 'increase pressure from within' on the Islamic Republic. The news website 'Axios' cited Israel's Channel 10, stating that high-ranking security officials from the U.S. and Israel have met in recent weeks regarding this matter. Among these meetings was one between John Bolton, the White House National Security Advisor, and his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben Shabbat, focusing on designing a 'strategy to increase pressure on the Tehran government.' The office of the Israeli Prime Minister and the National Security Council of the White House have refrained from commenting on these reports. Channel 10 of Israel quoted an Israeli official stating that the purpose of forming this committee is 'not regime change,' but rather 'to exploit internal pressures in Iran to compel the Ayatollahs to change their behavior.' Iranian officials have consistently called for the 'destruction of Israel,' and Israel has always sought ways to alter this policy. Axios quoted 'an Israeli official' saying, 'No one is seriously thinking about regime change, but this committee wants to see if we can use the internal weaknesses of the Iranian government to create more pressure....' Since last December, Iran has witnessed numerous widespread protests regarding economic conditions, the livelihood of the people, and other issues such as water shortages. Almost all these protests, which started with economic slogans, quickly turned against the core of the regime, including President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, both of whom have become targets of harsh slogans. Now, these new reports indicate that Washington and Tel Aviv, staunch critics of the Islamic Republic, have concluded that the best strategy is to exploit the existing atmosphere of discontent in Iran. As noted in these reports, recent videos of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the Iranian people and tweets from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo regarding the dire economic situation in Iran should also be viewed in this context. In a video released in early July, the Israeli Prime Minister spoke about Iran's games in the World Cup in Russia and praised the Iranian people for displaying their 'courage' on the football field and in the streets of Iran. In the same week, the U.S. Secretary of State tweeted, referring to the 30% unemployment rate among Iranian youth and the livelihood problems of families, accusing the Islamic Republic of plundering the national wealth of the country for proxy wars and enriching the IRGC, Hezbollah, and Hamas. On the other hand, on Tuesday, another television network, Hadashot, reported on sending a document to Israeli embassies around the world containing details of this new strategy. This document, referencing Donald Trump's exit from the JCPOA, states: 'Given that now is an opportune time and Iran is going through a sensitive diplomatic and economic period, we must increase pressure. Israeli assistance could lead to a change in Iran's position regarding its nuclear program.' Hadashot also reported that embassies and Israeli representative offices will each be 'soon' informed of their role in this plan. The news of the joint committee comes at a time when Rouhani's government is facing increasing pressure from both the people and from conservative critics of the government. Following the U.S. exit from the nuclear agreement, Hassan Rouhani's government is also under significant pressure abroad: currently, only the threats of the United States to re-impose sanctions on Iran have led countries and foreign companies to talk about leaving Iran. The Trump administration has explicitly asked countries that buy Iranian oil to stop all imports from Iran starting in November (November 13) and resuming U.S. sanctions against Tehran. Although after the U.S. exit from the JCPOA, the European Union, along with Russia and China, emphasized maintaining this international agreement, U.S. extraterritorial sanctions have made economic and banking cooperation with Iran very difficult.