Scott McConnell asks what I assume must be rhetorical questions about Hillary Clinton’s views on Israel and Iran:

Since Bibi’s disapproval is virtually guaranteed (Israel insists that it be the only nuclear-capable country in the region), would she have the United States support and even assist Israel bombing the daylights out of Iran, right after the United States signs a deal with the Iranian government? Or does she reject the counsel of her major backer? Saban’s partner on stage has urged that the United States drop nuclear bombs on Iran as a negotiating tactic. What does Hillary think of this?

It seems to me that we already have a good idea of what she thinks about these things. When Clinton was Secretary of State, she reportedly entertained the possibility of encouraging an Israeli attack on Iran. While she supposedly didn’t endorse the option herself, her willingness to consider the idea that Israel could somehow “take care of the problem for us” suggests that she wouldn’t have ruled it out if she had been the president.

In the interview with Goldberg earlier this year, she approved of a maximalist “zero-enrichment” position on Iran’s nuclear program. When asked about this unrealistic, deal-breaking position, she said, “It’s not an unrealistic position.” At the very least, that suggests she has a distorted view of what a “bad” deal with Iran would look like, and it tells us that she is quite sympathetic to Iran hawks’ maximalist demands. That’s not really news, but it’s important to keep it in mind. It’s also worth recalling that Clinton made a point of threatening to “obliterate” Iran in response to any Iranian attack on Israel when she was a candidate in 2008. Having made such blunt threats as a candidate, I doubt she would be alarmed or displeased by Saban’s rhetoric. Fortunately, it seems extremely unlikely that the Israeli government would launch strikes on Iran at this point, but we can reasonably conclude from Clinton’s record that she would have no problem with an Israeli attack before or after a deal with Iran had been reached.