NOVANEWS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) talks with Israeli Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit (R) during the weekly cabinet meeting on November 24, 2013 in Jerusalem. (Photo: AFP – Abir Sultan)
Published Sunday, November 24, 2013
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday denounced the world powers’ widely-hailed nuclear agreement with Iran as a “historic mistake” that left the production of atomic weapons within Tehran’s reach.
A grim-faced Netanyahu, who had strongly opposed any easing of economic sanctions against Iran – in a rift with Israel’s main ally, the United States – told his cabinet his government would not be bound by the Geneva deal.
He repeated a long-standing Israeli threat of a possible military assault against Iran – even as a member of his security cabinet acknowledged the interim accord limited that option.
“What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it was a historic mistake,” Netanyahu said.
“Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world took a significant step towards obtaining the world’s most dangerous weapon.”
The United States said the agreement halted Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work, including the construction of the Arak research reactor, which is of special concern for the West as it could produce material for bombs.
The deal would neutralize Iran’s stockpile of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent – a close step away from the level needed for weapons – and called for intrusive UN nuclear inspections, a senior US official said.
The Islamic Republic also promised to stop uranium enrichment above a fissile purity of 5 percent, a US fact sheet said.
Israel was alone in its condemnations, as word powers quickly hailed the agreement as a step to defuse the volatile region and improve relations between sanction-crippled Iran and the West.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “everyone ends up winning” with the agreement, while his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi praised the deal that “will help to uphold the international nuclear non-proliferation system, (and) safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East.”
French President Francois Hollande described the deal as “an important step in the right direction.”
But Netanyahu, whose government is widely assumed to be the Middle East’s sole possessor of nuclear arm, had called for a total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities.
Instead, he said, the world’s leading powers “agreed for the first time to uranium enrichment in Iran while ignoring Security Council resolutions that they spearheaded themselves.”
“Israel is not committed by this agreement. The regime in Iran is committed to destroying Israel. And Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself from any threat,” Netanyahu said.
“I would like to make clear, as the prime minister of Israel: Israel will not allow Iran to develop a military nuclear capability.”
But Israeli Civil Defense Minister Gilad Erdan, a security cabinet member, said the deal “makes it much more difficult, in the diplomatic sphere, to talk about a military option.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Geneva deal was Iran’s “greatest diplomatic triumph” since its 1979 Islamic revolution, and predicted an arms race could result among Sunni Arabs who also feel wary of Shia Iran.
(Reuters, AFP)
A grim-faced Netanyahu, who had strongly opposed any easing of economic sanctions against Iran – in a rift with Israel’s main ally, the United States – told his cabinet his government would not be bound by the Geneva deal.
He repeated a long-standing Israeli threat of a possible military assault against Iran – even as a member of his security cabinet acknowledged the interim accord limited that option.
“What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it was a historic mistake,” Netanyahu said.
“Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world took a significant step towards obtaining the world’s most dangerous weapon.”
The United States said the agreement halted Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work, including the construction of the Arak research reactor, which is of special concern for the West as it could produce material for bombs.
The deal would neutralize Iran’s stockpile of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent – a close step away from the level needed for weapons – and called for intrusive UN nuclear inspections, a senior US official said.
The Islamic Republic also promised to stop uranium enrichment above a fissile purity of 5 percent, a US fact sheet said.
Israel was alone in its condemnations, as word powers quickly hailed the agreement as a step to defuse the volatile region and improve relations between sanction-crippled Iran and the West.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “everyone ends up winning” with the agreement, while his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi praised the deal that “will help to uphold the international nuclear non-proliferation system, (and) safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East.”
French President Francois Hollande described the deal as “an important step in the right direction.”
But Netanyahu, whose government is widely assumed to be the Middle East’s sole possessor of nuclear arm, had called for a total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities.
Instead, he said, the world’s leading powers “agreed for the first time to uranium enrichment in Iran while ignoring Security Council resolutions that they spearheaded themselves.”
“Israel is not committed by this agreement. The regime in Iran is committed to destroying Israel. And Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself from any threat,” Netanyahu said.
“I would like to make clear, as the prime minister of Israel: Israel will not allow Iran to develop a military nuclear capability.”
But Israeli Civil Defense Minister Gilad Erdan, a security cabinet member, said the deal “makes it much more difficult, in the diplomatic sphere, to talk about a military option.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Geneva deal was Iran’s “greatest diplomatic triumph” since its 1979 Islamic revolution, and predicted an arms race could result among Sunni Arabs who also feel wary of Shia Iran.
(Reuters, AFP)
