Netanyahu: Iran nuclear deal threatens ‘survival of Israel’

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu says Israel rejects the nuclear deal with Iran, warning that it "would threaten the survival of Israel".

In a statement yesterday after the security cabinet held an emergency meeting on the Lausanne agreement, Mr Netanyahu said the deal also posed a “grave danger to the region and to the world”.

“The deal would greatly bolster Iran’s economy. It would give Iran thereby tremendous means to propel its aggression and terrorism throughout the Middle East,” he said. ”Such a deal does not block Iran’s path to the bomb. Such a deal paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”

Arms race

Mr Netanyahu, who has threatened to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, warned the agreement might spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East and greatly increase the risks of terrible war.

“Just two days ago, in the midst of the negotiations in Lausanne, the commander of the Basij security forces in Iran said the destruction of Israel is non-negotiable. Well, I want to make clear to all. The survival of Israel is non-negotiable. Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period.”

Shortly after the framework agreement was reached, US president Barack Obama, calling from Air Force One, told Mr Netanyahu the framework would lead to an agreement "that cuts off all of Iran's pathways to a bomb", according to the White House. It said the deal "in no way diminishes" US concerns about "Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and threats toward Israel" or the US's commitment to Israel's security.

Mr Netanyahu has said preventing Iran from developing an atomic bomb is the mission of his lifetime. Last month, he strongly criticised the emerging agreement in a controversial speech to the US Congress, angering the White House because the visit was co-ordinated with Republican lawmakers.

However, the speech, and intense Israeli lobbying of other participants in the Iran talks, appeared to have made little difference. Strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel would continue to push to cancel or at least improve the deal during the negotiations on the technical details ahead of a June 30th deadline.

“The smiles in Lausanne are detached from the grim reality in which Iran refuses to make any concessions on the nuclear issue and continues to threaten Israel and all other countries in the Middle East,” he said in a written statement.

It remains to be seen if Mr Netanyahu will continue with efforts to persuade the Republican-controlled Congress to oppose the deal. Former national security advisor Maj Gen Giora Eiland warned that such a strategy would be a mistake.

“The result is that we won’t succeed and we’ll ruin our relations with the United States, and this will have a price in other areas, such as with the Palestinians,” he said.

In a separate development, Israeli police arrested a man who faked his own kidnapping in the West Bank as part of a bizarre effort to win back his ex-girlfriend.

Thousands of troops launched a massive manhunt on Thursday night after the man’s friend, a soldier, informed police he had entered a Palestinian village and not returned. Both were charged with fabrication of evidence, obstruction of justice, disturbing the peace and obstruction of a law enforcement officer. The judge described the hoax as “shockingly irresponsible considering our reality, especially because in the recent past teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in an area adjacent to where this incident took place”.