Netanyahu warns US against Iran nuclear deal

WASHINGFTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the US on Tuesday against agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran, saying Tehran “will always be an enemy of America”.
“If the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran, that deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons—it will all but guarantee that Iran will get those nuclear weapons, lots of them,” he said.
In the most anticipated speech to the US Congress by a foreign leader in years, Netanyahu said Iran’s regime was “as radical as ever”, could not be trusted and the deal being worked out with the US would not block Iran’s way to a bomb “but paves its way to a bomb”. “We must all stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror,” he said.
Earlier, he entered the chamber to a cacophony of cheers and applause, shaking hands with dozens of lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, before taking a podium and telling lawmakers he was deeply humbled.
At the start of the speech, he sought to defuse the intense politicization of his appearance, which has hardened divisions between Republicans and Democrats over the White House’s approach to stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
He said he was grateful to Obama for his public and private support of Israel, including US military assistance and contributions to Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system.
“I regret that some see my appearance here as political,” he said. “I know that no matter which side of the aisle you sit on, you stand with Israel.”
The speech escalated Netanyahu’s campaign against President Barack Obama’s Iran diplomacy, putting unprecedented stress on the two leaders’ already strained ties.
Although given the cold shoulder by the US administration, Netanyahu on Monday offered an olive branch, saying he meant no disrespect to Obama by accepting an invitation to speak to US lawmakers that was orchestrated by the president’s rival Republicans.
As many as 60 of the 232 members of Congress from Obama’s Democratic Party sat out the address to protest what they see as a politicization of Israeli security, an issue on which Congress is usually united.
The absence of so many lawmakers could raise political heat on Netanyahu at home two weeks before an Israeli general election. Many Israelis are wary of estrangement from a US ally that provides their country with wide-ranging military and diplomatic support.
Boehner, whose unilateral invitation to Netanyahu triggered the diplomatic storm, said on Tuesday he expected a capacity crowd to hear the speech and played down any divisions.
On Monday, Obama appeared to wave off any prospect that the bedrock US alliance with Israel might be ruined by the rancor.
Netanyahu, a right-wing politician who has played up his security credentials ahead of a closely contested March 17 election in Israel, has denied his speech would have any design other than national survival.
Netanyahu wants the Iranians stripped of nuclear projects that might be used to get a bomb—something Tehran insists it does not want. Washington deems the Israeli demand unrealistic.
Under a 2013 interim deal, the US and five other powers agreed in principle to let Iran maintain limited uranium enrichment technologies. US National Security Adviser Susan Rice argued on Monday that this commitment could not be undone.
A deal with Iran is far from guaranteed, given US assessments that more than a decade of carrot-and-stick diplomacy with Iran might again fail to clinch a final accord.-Agencies
Meanwhile, Iran´s foreign minister rejected on Tuesday as “unacceptable” remarks by US President Barack Obama who said a minimum 10-year nuclear deal offered the best hope of avoiding an atomic-armed Tehran.
Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking in Switzerland, where he and US Secretary of State John Kerry met for a second day to seek a framework for a deal to rein in Tehran´s nuclear programme by a March 31 deadline.