Israel and the Zionist lobby in the United States have “raised the bar so high” in Iran nuclear negotiations to prevent a final deal from materializing and to ignite another war in the Middle East, an American professor says.

“Their strategy here is to raise the bar in the negotiations so high that Iran will not go for the deal,” said Kevin MacDonald, a professor of psychology at California State University in Long Beach.

“I do think what they really want is war. Israel wants war with Iran for quite a few reasons besides this issue of the nuclear weapons,” MacDonald said Tuesday during an interview with Press TV.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an anti-Iran speech at Congress on Tuesday to persuade American lawmakers to put more pressure on Tehran during nuclear negotiations.

However, remarks made by American lawmakers following the speech indicate that he failed to complete his mission.

A group of top US Democrats have decried Netanyahu’s address, characterizing the speech as “political theater,” and “an insult to the intelligence of the United States."

At least 55 Democrats sat out the address, underscoring the partisan divide between the two major parties. Their absence was extra significant because Congress usually unites around the issue of Israel.

“It’s unprecedented that you have this breach in bipartisan support that the Israel lobby has been able to maintain,” MacDonald said.

But he warned that the pro-Israel advocacy groups are still “very strong” inside the government and the media and “Jewish power is going to be maintained” because of their vast financial contributions to US electoral campaigns.

AHT/AGB