In an interview with Radio Monte Carlo in Arabic, Dr Walid Phares said "the removal by the Obama Administration of Hezbollah and Iran's regime from the "Threat List" included in the annual national security assessment is in fact a political message sent by the Administration to the Iranian regime as a way to encourage the regime to come forward and cut the deal with Washington."

Down with America, official Iranian policy

In an interview with Radio Monte Carlo in Arabic, Dr Walid Phares said "the removal by the Obama Administration of Hezbollah and Iran's regime from the "Threat List" included in the annual national security assessment is in fact a political message sent by the Administration to the Iranian regime as a way to encourage the regime to come forward and cut the deal with Washington." Phares, the author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad" said "there are no data regarding Hezbollah or Iran's regime different this year from last year to prompt such a removal on intelligence ground alone. Last year Hezbollah was fighting al Qaeda in Syria and this year it is fighting ISIS, an al Qaeda off shoot. Last year Iran was deploying its Pasdaran in Syria and this year as well."

Phares added the slogans of both Iran's regime and Hezbollah continues to include "death to America" and US citizens are still held in Iranian prisons. "Statements by Iranian leaders against US national security have actually increased over the past year and military exercises including virtual attacks against US targets have also increased. Thus from an intelligence perspective the threat by Hezbollah and Iran is still the same or higher than the past years. None of the terror attacks against US targets have been resolved with the regime. Hence one answer is possible for the removal of the threat mention in the assessment: a move by the Administration to secure an Iranian favorable response to the deal. In the present context this means that Tehran is requesting more and more demands from the Administration in order to agree on a deal."

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