Obama can poke Netanyahu in the eye

US President Barack Obama can now poke Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the eye in the wake of the successful outcome of marathon negotiations between Iran and the P5+1, an American political commentator says.

Ian Williams, a senior analyst at Foreign Policy in Focus, a policy think tank based in Washington, DC, made the remarks on Thursday  while commenting on reports that Iran and the P5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany  – have reached a historic understanding over Tehran’s  civilian nuclear program.

“In a sense, this gives the [US] president a very good chance to poke Netanyahu in the eye,” Williams said.

He added that the success of the negotiations “means Netanyahu’s policies have once again failed.”

“We know that Israel is right out to kill any deal, and the French often seem to be, but overall preponderance is that this has got to be good for the world, good for the region and good for all of the countries involved,” he said.

Top officials from Iran and the P5+1 have been holding negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, for more than a week to reach a comprehensive deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The latest negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 over Tehran’s nuclear energy program concluded on Thursday, with the two sides agreeing on "key parameters" for resolving a long-standing Western dispute over Iran's civilian nuclear program.

The two sides have set July 1 as the final deadline for a comprehensive agreement.

“You know, ironically, we should give some credit for this deal to Netanyahu, because without his clumsy arrogance it was quite possible that [US Secretary of State John] Kerry and Obama could not have got the political leverage at home to carry through a deal,”  Williams said.