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Philip Gordon, the former White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf region. (photo credit:REUTERS)

A former top adviser to president Barack Obama said at a panel in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump is delusional about his ability to change the Iran nuclear deal.

It is fantasy to think that fundamental changes of the [Iran] deal could be achieved, Philip Gordon, a former top Obama administration official on Iran and the Middle East, said on Tuesday at an Institute for National Security Studies Conference panel discussion in Tel Aviv on the deals future under the Trump administration.

Gordon then listed specific aspects of the deal which he did not believe the Trump administration would be able to change.

For example, he said President Trump would fail to change: the deals sunset provisions, which remove limits on Irans nuclear program when certain deadlines pass; the number of centrifuges Iran can continue to operate under the deal; and the modalities of the deals inspection regime.

If Trumps team wants to see a fundamental revision without the support of our allies, Gordon said, anyone who thinks they can call Iran back to the table to get Iran to agree to a 30-year deadline for maintaining nuclear limits instead of the current deadlines of 6.5, 8.5 and 12.5 years, is kidding themselves, and will merely find the US itself more isolated.

I cant predict what Iran will be in 15 years, but lets see if it [the deal] buys us 10 to 15 years. If it still wants to build nuclear weapons and remains a regular threat, then the US, EU, Israel will decide what to do then, but why provoke that crisis decision today? he asked.

Gordon also predicted that even if the Trump administration does set a different tone in its dealings with Iran, at the end of the day there are structural geopolitical differences between US and Israeli interests. Those differences mean Israels threshold will probably always be in a different place in terms of at what point it feels threatened by Iran.

Former CIA director David Petraeus, who was also on the panel, called for Congress to pass a bipartisan statement that Iran will never get to enrich uranium to weapons-grade level.

Petraeus added that statement should be followed by saying openly that US Central Command has the authority to carry out any operations necessary just in case and to act with allies in the region to do more to confront Iran.

Petraus, the general who commanded US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the US should consider rolling back Iranian aggression in the region by backing Saudi Arabia more strongly in Yemen.

He said that the US had acted problematically by slamming the Saudis for civilian casualties caused by its attacks against Iran-allied forces in Yemen, while failing to give it more advanced precision-guided munitions, while cutting off assistance in target selection.

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Top Obama adviser: Trump is living in 'fantasy' over changing Iran deal - Jerusalem Post Israel News