Netanyahu’s fighting talk on Iran divides Washington

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's fighting speech to a joint session of the US Congress felt at times like a presidential state of the union address.

There was a packed chamber. There were whoops, the loudest from one party. There was poker-face opposition from some in the other.

However, rather than an American president seeking support for a controversial plan, here was an Israeli prime minister pressing US legislators over a divisive foreign policy position. This was a state of disunion address, marking major differences between two leaders.

Against strong opposition from US president Barack Obama, who did not want Washington influencing Israel's March 17th elections, Mr Netanyahu delivered a stomping campaign-style speech urging Congress to block a proposed nuclear deal with Iran being negotiated in US-led talks with five other powers.

“It’s a very bad deal,” said Mr Netanyahu in a 40-minute address that was regularly interrupted by thundering cheers, mostly from Republicans who want more sanctions against Iran, not a deal.

The difference in goals between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Obama may be subtle – “Bibi” wants to remove Iran’s capacity to build a nuclear weapon; Mr Obama wants to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon. But the differences in approach, and rhetoric, could not be more stark.

The Israeli leader said the proposed deal to freeze Tehran’s nuclear programme for at least a decade in exchange for relief from sanctions “won’t be a farewell to arms; it would be a farewell to arms control”.

‘Nuclear nightmare’

“If anyone thinks this deal kicks the can down the road, think again,” he said. “When we get down that road, we’ll face a much more dangerous Iran, a Middle East littered with nuclear bombs and a countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare.”

Mr Netanyahu's decision to accept the invite from Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, who bypassed the White House, not only picked at domestic political tensions but strained relations between the countries.

The Israeli leader said it was "never my intention" that his address would be political. But it was. Obama refused to meet him, vice-president Joe Biden left town and dozens of Democrats boycotted the address, seeing it as a sign of disrespect to their president.

Rarely has an address by an invited foreign leader so rattled Washington.