the US has non-written agreements with many countries. for example, japan would be protected by the US nuclear umbrella if it were attacked with nuclear weapons. remember the "monroe doctrine", which is an unwritten pledge to protect western hemisphere countries.
the US doesn`t agree to protect these countries out of the goodness of their hearts, it is because of really important reasons: protecting japan from nuclear weapons is so that the japanese don`t feel they need to make their own atom bombs, protecting the western hemisphere is in order to disuade other countries from establishing bases close to us.
similarly, the US pledge to allow israel an adequete self defense is designed to disuade israel from doing anything the americans don`t like. if israel does, then the US could threaten to withdraw support for israel`s defense. if the US were not to have supplied defensive needs to israel, then israel would have less to lose in attacking iran. |
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