The world is closely following on the Omani-sponsored talks between the US and Iran, and anticipating how their outcome might prevent the realisation of US President Trump’s threats to deliver a fatal blow to the Iranian regime. Yet what remains placed on hold is the question of the hidden forces behind the American bullying of Iran, and the push to ignite a US-Iran war. In this context I today present excerpts from an interview aired on 5 February between 48-year-old American journalist and author Max Bluementhal, and Judge Andrew Napolitano on his podcast Judging Freedom. The episode held the title: “Power Networks Behind US-Israel Policy”. Following are the main highlights of the interview.
Judge Napolitano: I want to talk to you at some length about the US-Iran negotiations… Does Netanyahu want Trump and the US to attack Iran?
Mr Bluementhal: “Well, that’s Netanyahu’s agenda. And it’s not Trump, it’s any US president. It’s why he went before Congress, and essentially accused Barack Obama of enabling a holocaust of Jews, I think back in 2011, and held up satellite maps, not of Iran, but of Poland, asserting that FDR refused to bomb the railways to Auschwitz, and then essentially insinuating that Obama was refusing to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, making him another Nazi enabler… But that’s Netanyahu’s agenda; it always has been his agenda. And before Iran was considered a threat to Israel, he was pushing the US to attack Iraq. Netanyahu said in his own books that Saddam Hussein was essentially a Soviet asset… And then once he gets that out of the way he moves on to Iran.” In fact, Netanyahu was able to push Trump into withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which is the agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme reached in July 2015 by Iran and the P51. Later, last year, the US attacked Iran and engaged in a 12-day war against it. Netanyahu is still adamant on inciting the US to crush the Iranian regime, pressing for further US Navy deployment into the Persian Gulf in preparation for strikes against Iran, only for the benefit of Israel.
Is he [Netanyahu] ignorant or is he indifferent about the likely catastrophic damage to Israel if the US attacks Iran?
“Well, it’s not just Netanyahu. This is the entire Israeli military intelligence apparatus. If Netanyahu’s opponents, who are equally bloodthirsty, if not more bloodthirsty, were in power, they would be pushing the United States to attack Iran on their behalf… Israel’s military intelligence apparatus believes that it will benefit from the US getting involved with Iran in a regional war and that it needs the US to be intimately and grotesquely involved in warfare in the region in order to prevent the US from, for example, pivoting to Asia and moving away from providing Israel with its main source of deterrence… That was another conflict [the conflict with Iraq] that benefited Israel. The difference is that Israel was able to conceal its fingerprints on the US drive to war and the US campaign in Iraq, whereas this time it’s very clear to a segment of the American public that we’re doing this essentially on behalf of Israel.”
But the demands that Trump is making are so absurd. It’s hard to believe that these negotiations are real.
“Well it looks like, based on the leaks that I’m seeing, which can be questioned, that the US is seeking a declaration of surrender from Iran because once Iran gives up its long range ballistic missiles and once Iran retreats from being a breakout nuclear power, from being sort of a latent nuclear power that could break out into weaponised capacity, then Iran loses its deterrence and it starts to look like the deal that the Syrian government signed with Russian mediation with the US… Gaddafi did the same thing under the mediation of Tony Blair and the Brits… So the lesson is very clear, if you give up your deterrence, you are signing your own death warrant because the US cannot adhere to a deal, especially when Israel is involved.
“Iran’s ballistic missiles exist at the heart. They have demonstrated during the 12-day war that Iran could deter an Israeli unprovoked attack. They put Israel on the back foot. They forced Israel to sue for peace. And the ballistic missile programme continues to advance. We’ve seen new hypersonic missiles being introduced into Iran’s arsenal since the 12-day war. Iran is also developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and this gives it weight at the negotiating table.
“The reason that these negotiations are taking place at all in Oman, is because Iran has not met the US with its tail between its legs. It has actually threatened an all-out regional war if the US attacks, if the US attempts a decapitating strike against its leader. The only language that Trump or Israel understands is the language of strength and force. And Donald Trump now understands that if he attacks Iran, it’s not going to be another Venezuela situation where he can just eliminate the top leader as if he’s picking up someone in an Uber ride. It’s going to be bloody, and Trump is not willing to pay a cost in terms of material and men and get bogged down. So that’s why these negotiations are taking place. I expect them to fail, and if they don’t fail and there is a deal between the US and Iran, the US will not be able to adhere to its terms, and we will see more attempts to destabilise Iran from within as well as to destroy its economy through sanctions.”
Watani International
13 February 2026
