In his rush to reach an interim deal with Iran, President Obama has lost a well connected and loyal Jewish friend. Prof. Alan Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard University, now expresses his doubts about the President delivering on his promise to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability.

“Obama promised me in a personal conversation that Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon on his watch, and I believed him. Nonetheless, I am not sure that he can keep this. Therefore, Mr. Dershowitz told participants at “Globes” 2013 Israel Business Conference Monday.

Commenting on the interim agreement with Iran, Dershowitz said, “There is the potential for disaster in the deal with Iran; too much was given for too little in return. The White House told me that this is not true. I was told that it will be possible to reapply the sanctions by the US alone. I am afraid of the music not the lyrics. Iran hears this as the end of the sanctions regime in exchange for which they have to give up nothing. If this ends by stopping the nuclear development, I’ll applaud Obama.”

“The President told me that there’s a 50/50 chance of success or failure. I think that the chances of success are only 20%, the chances of failure are 40%, and rest is uncertain. I think that no one knows whether Iran’s supreme leader has changed his mind and that he is prepared to eliminate the nuclear program. We don’t know if he just put up a smiling face,” he added.

In an interview with i24news’ Lucy Aharish Tuesday, Mr. Dershowitz said Israel should not depend on America when it comes to ensuring its own security regarding Iran.

“Nobody can know for sure what the situation will be, which is why Israel always has to assume it will be on its own in trying to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. It cannot count on the assistance of the United States, no matter how much it trusts the president,” said Dershowitz.

“Netanyahu is correct when he says the deal poses dangers to Israel,” he added. “Even the president says its only a 50/50 chance.”

Prof. Dershowitz, a longtime defender of Israel, endorsed President Obama for reelection in 2012, telling the Israeli newspaper Yediot that Obama will be better than Mitt Romney for Israel on Iran.

“President Obama has clearly stated that he is not bluffing when he says that his administration will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. A secondterm president generally has more credibility than a firstterm president when it comes to threatening military action,” Mr. Dershowitz wrote in a support piece of Obama’s reelection bid in the Jerusalem Post.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)