Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the deal struck Tuesday morning between the U.S. and the Iranians, calling it a “stunning, historic mistake” in a press conference.
Netanyahu, who has long been a critic of a potential deal, argued that the deal give Iran “every incentive not to change, saying it will “fuel” Iran’s terrorism and it’s “efforts to destroy Israel.”
“The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday,” Netanyahu said. “The leading international powers have bet our collective future on a deal with a formal sponsor of international terrorism. They’ve gambled that in 10 years time, Iran’s terrorist regime will change while removing any incentive for it to do so. In fact, the deal gives Iran every incentive not to change. In the coming decade, the deal will reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran with hundreds of billions of dollars, this cash bonanza will fuel of Iran’s terrorism worldwide, it’s aggression in the region, and it’s efforts to destroy Israel, which are on going.”
“Amazingly, this bad deal does in any way does not require Iran to cease its aggressive behavior in any way. Just last Friday, that aggression was on display for all to see,” Netanyahu explained. “While the negotiators were finalizing the deal in Vienna, Iran’s supposedly moderate president chose to go to a rally in Tehran. And at this rally, a frenzied mob burned American and Israeli flags and chanted death to America, death to Israel. Now, this didn’t happen four years ago. It happened four days ago now.
“Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, said on March 21st that the deal does not limit Iran’s aggression in any way. He said negotiations with the United States on the nuclear issue and on nothing else. And three days ago, he made that clear again. The United States, he said, embodies global arrogance, and the battle against it will continue unabated, even after the nuclear agreement is concluded.”
Netanyahu made many of the same claims during his address before Congress in March, when he warned against a deal that could lead to the destruction of Israel
“The bottom line of this very bad deal is exactly what Iran’s President Rouhani, said today. The international community is removing the sanctions, and Iran is keeping it’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu said. “By not dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, in a decade, this will give them unreformed, unrepentant and far richer terrorist regime the capacity to produce many nuclear bombs. In fact, an entire nuclear arsenal with the means to deliver it.
“What a stunning, historic mistake. Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran, and Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction,” he said. “We will always defend ourselves.”