JNS.org – As the March 24 deadline for a “political framework agreement” in nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 powers approaches, the French newspaper Le Figaroon Sunday quoted an American official as saying a nuclear deal is “closer than ever.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Geneva on Sunday in another round of talks. Le Figaro referred to comments made by critics of US President Barack Obama, who believe that Obama is keen on reaching a nuclear deal as part of a greater plan to strengthen American ties with the Islamic Republic and to re-establish the geo-strategic balance in the region.

“If, in Bushland, America had behaved like a sheriff, assembling a posse to go in search of monsters, in Obamaworld, America would disarm its rivals by ensnaring them in a web of cooperation,” wrote Michael Doran, a former deputy assistant defense secretary in the George W. Bush administration, for Mosaic Magazine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated at his cabinet meeting on Sunday that the emerging nuclear deal with Iran is “dangerous for Israel, dangerous for the region, and dangerous for the entire world.” He also noted the increased Iranian military activity on Israel’s borders.

“In addition to its fronts with Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, Iran is trying to open a third front in the Golan Heights, using the thousands of Hezbollah fighters in southern Syria who report directly to Iran,” Netanyahu said.