Iran deal threatens ‘the survival of Israel’: Netanyahu

Middle East, News April 3, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

A nuclear deal with Iran based on current framework will “threaten the survival of Israel”, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning it would increase the risk of a “horrific war.”

In a phone conversation with the US President, the Israeli PM expressed his opposition to a framework agreement reached with Israel on Thursday.

Netanyahu has once again called for a “better deal” insisting that the only way to reach it would be“standing firm and increasing the pressure on Iran.”

Any deal must significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear capabilities and stop its terrorism and aggression. #IranTalks pic.twitter.com/um3htQJPTA

— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 2, 2015

Netanyahu warned that if the final deal due to be signed in June, fell in line with the current framework, it would “increase the risks of nuclear proliferation in the region and the risks of a horrific war.”

Successful negotiations and a sealed deal would “legitimize” Iran’s nuclear program, which Netanyahu insists is militarized and designed to increase aggression and bring more terror throughout the Middle East.

Barack Obama called Netanyahu on Thursday evening to discuss the agreement reached with Iran following eight-day talks in Switzerland and convince him that the deal represents significant progress toward cutting off “all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon.”

It is a good deal. A deal that meets our core objectives,” the US President said earlier in his public address from the White House. “If this framework leads to the final deal, it would make our country, allies and the world safer.”

However, Obama reassured Netanyahu that the progress does not diminish concerns about “Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism and threats towards Israel,” the White House said in a statement.

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that despite the agreement reached, normalizing relations with Washington is far from over for Tehran.

“Iran and US relations have nothing to do with this, which was an attempt to resolve the nuclear issue … We have serious differences with the United States,” Zarif said. “We have built mutual distrust in the past…So what I hope is that through courageous implementation of this, some of that trust could be remedied. But that is for us all to wait and see.”