As Iran nuclear deal draws closer, Israeli prime minister says he won’t pressure the U.S. to back away from the agreement.
By World Israel News Staff
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett fully expects that the U.S. will agree to a new nuclear deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program and does not intend to fight the U.S. on the matter, Hebrew-language news reported Wednesday.
“We pick our battles with the Americans; there’s no reason for an international campaign against the nuclear deal — because it will be signed,” Army Radio quoted Bennett as telling government ministers in a closed-door meeting.
“We’ll fight only where there’s a purpose, as in the case of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC], which we’re still trying to stop.”
The revelation that the U.S. is mulling lifting its destination of the IRGC as a terror group sparked outrage from Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, as well as rumored backlash from the Gulf kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The heads of states of both oil-rich nations ignored phone calls from President Joe Biden in recent weeks, showing their displeasure over the Iran deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Bennett’s seeming resignation to the deal has been sharply criticized by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that the current premier is not doing enough to prevent the agreement.
In a video posted to Netanyahu’s official social media channels earlier in March, the opposition leader called on European and American officials to cease negotiations with Iran after a missile attack on the U.S. Consulate in Iraq.
“The desperate rush to sign this flawed nuclear agreement with Iran is not only absurd, it’s downright dangerous,” Netanyahu said.
“This agreement is even worse than its predecessor, because in three years’ time, under this agreement, Iran will be a threshold nuclear state. It will have enough enriched uranium to create dozens and dozens of nuclear bombs, and it will have the ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] to deliver them to any place in the United States.”
Calling on Americans to pressure their leaders to stop the deal, Netanyahu said that “we cannot allow a rogue terrorist regime like Iran to have nuclear weapons. Have we learned nothing?”