US, Israel can’t tolerate Iran’s independence: Analyst

Israel and the Zionist lobby in the United States are working with Congress to attack Iran’s nuclear program as a pretext to undermine Tehran for its independence from American hegemony, an author and analyst in Chicago says.

“There is an anti-Iranian blitzkrieg campaign being conducted by Israel, by its lobby in America led by AIPAC, and by members of Congress,” Stephen Lendman told Press TV on Tuesday.

Iran is “independent and that’s what really at issue at stake,” Lendman said.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany –  reached a conclusion on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 14 in the Austrian capital of Vienna following days of intensive talks over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The conclusion of the Iran nuclear talks has come under heavy criticism from Israel and from Republicans in Congress, which could vote to reject it; though it is unlikely they would get enough votes to override a presidential veto.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has campaigned hard to prevent a nuclear accord, including a controversial speech to Congress in March that infuriated the Obama administration and seriously harmed relations with the US.

“The Iran nuclear program is a pretext for the real agenda of America and Netanyahu and Israel and all of the extremist hawks in Congress, senators and congressmen, Republicans and Democrats, and the real issue is Iranian independence,” Lendman observed.

“America tolerates no country that’s independent, no country that it can’t control, no country that will not go along with America’s imperial agenda, wanting to conquer the world by wars and other means,” he said.

“Any country standing up for its own sovereign independence gets put in America’s crosshairs and Israel’s crosshairs,” he stated.

Most Republicans oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran, but they need a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override a possible presidential veto, and to reach that threshold, Republicans need Democratic support.

The White House has launched a sales pitch to the Republican-controlled Congress, which remains skeptical of the nuclear accord with Iran, and has 60 days to vote to either approve or disapprove of it.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk