Today is the official deadline for the conclusion of talks on Iran’s nuclear capacity. There will be no conclusion and the talks will continue until Obama gets the deal he so much craves – no matter that such a deal will be a betrayal of Israel. There have been so many bluffs, lies and obfuscations that it is impossible to see clearly what the details of an agreement would look like.

The Iranians are negotiating…No, let me stop beating about the bush…the Iranians are, as usual, lying. They claim they have no intention of producing nuclear weapons and insist their uranium enrichment process is entirely for peaceful purposes. If you believe that, you might as well also believe that Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra are in charge of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Why should one of the most oil-rich nations on earth want nuclear energy?

Obama, through his big mouth mouthpiece the egregious John Kerry, is so desperate for a deal that he will grant Iran all the concessions and exemptions they demand. Yes demand. For it is not Kerry and his boss the White House speechifier-in-chief who are running this show: it is Iran’s supreme leader the Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran is a theocracy – or more exactly and Allatocracy, since Allah is certainly not HO Theos – and what the supreme leader says goes.

Iran’s demands are so preposterous that no negotiating partner in his senses could take them seriously for a minute. They will allow UN inspections of their nuclear facilities – but only some facilities. This is like a thorough police search in which, however, the cops don’t look in the attic. Iran will not allow inspectors into its military bases – so how could we know that nuclear weapons were not being produced at such a site? They will not permit the questioning of Iranian scientists who previously worked on the nuclear programme.

Frankly, the talks stink and the inevitable agreement will stink to high heaven.

Does it matter? Won’t there be a delightful peace dividend out of an agreement, improved trading arrangements, smiles and handshakes all round? That’s what it will look like and Obama will claim a triumph to stick in his legacy. The rest of the world, including our very own Dave and the maleficent EU, will praise Obama as the man who – I can see the headlines – BROKE THE STALEMATE AND FINALLY BROUGHT IRAN IN OUT OF THE COLD.

Only one nation will demur – and with good reason. Israel cannot allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, for the Iranian authorities have pledged many times to wipe Israel off the map.

If they get the bomb they will be able to do just that, immediately and without warning. Thus a pre-emptive strike by Israel would be the country’s only chance.

The Iranians hate Israel because that state works efficiently and has a decent set of political liberties, including freedom to criticise the government. By contrast, Iran is a barbaric tyranny which practises imprisonment without trial, torture and routine executions.

The Israelis have no option but to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. They must do that or perish. The tragic possibility is that they might do just that and perish.

In thwarting Iran’s nuclear plans, Israel will have done the rest of the world the greatest favour – perhaps at the cost of its own survival

It reminds me of Isaiah chapter 53 and the poetic, prophetic image of Israel as God’s Suffering Servant  who surely hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

God help Israel…