In an interview Sunday during “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley on CNN, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning for the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany, who accept the deal over Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu has always said that he prefers a diplomatic solution to war, but the framework of the deal being negotiated, which even the French pulled back from, will not work.
“This is a bad deal,” he told Crowley. “And in fact, if you do a bad deal, you may get to the point where your only option is a military option. So a bad deal actually can lead you to exactly the place you don’t want to be.”
The deal allows for loosening economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for the supposed suspension of part of its nuclear program, and Netanyahu already sees and hears related businesses gearing up to exploit the Iranian economy for the benefit of the regime and business, but to the detriment of the U.S., Israel, and the western world.
“I think, if you want a peaceful solution, as I do, then the right thing to do is ratchet up the sanctions,” Netanyahu added.
Representatives from Tehran have been meeting this month with their counterparts from the United States, the four other permanent members of the Security Council and Germany. The latter are known as the P5+1. Talks are slated to continue this week in Geneva, Switzerland, even though the last round of negotiations ended with each side blaming the other for the lack of an agreement.
Despite pushback from Israel and other western European nations, the U.S. and other countries are supposedly “getting close” to an interim deal with Iran that would prevent its nuclear program “from advancing, and roll it back” in key areas, a senior U.S. administration official said.
But Netanyahu isn’t buying what Tehran or the Obama administration is selling. The deal is widely believed by experts to not have the teeth to truly stop the Iranian nuclear program, and loosens sanctions that Netanyahu and others have said were just beginning to take affect.
Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Israel to further discuss the Iranian nuclear negotiations, Netanyahu said.
“Iran is practically giving away nothing. It’s making a minor concession, which they can reverse in weeks, and you endanger the whole sanctions regime that took years to make” and that has effectively prevented Iran from pursuing nuclear ambitions, he said.
“If you continue the pressure now, you can get Iran to cease and desist,” he added later. “You see, the options aren’t really a bad deal – and this is a bad deal – or there’s a third option. Sanctions. Increase the sanctions.”
After he dismissed the “bad deal” repeatedly, he was asked by Crowley on whether there was any daylight between his position and that of U.S. President Barack Obama, who’s not calling for an immediate boost in sanctions as preferred by Netanyahu.
“The best of friends can have different opinions. We agree on a lot of things, and some things we disagree on,” he said, later adding, “We all want the same thing.” He insisted that it was not a partisan issue whether or not Iran should be allowed to pursue its nuclear program.
Part of the challenge that Netanyahu faces is that some are still holding the narrative that the Iranians are pursing their nuclear program for peaceful reasons, such as energy. However, it has never been the position of Israel, or the U.S. for that matter, to be fooled into believing that is the case. As far as Netanyahu is concerned, Israel retains the right to defend Israel by any and all measure.
Netanyahu also stated that everyone “wants real peace, which means they recognize the Jewish State.” His comment was an answer to Crowley’s question on whether or not Israel will recognize the Palestinian State. The Israeli Prime Minister said, “how about recognizing the Jewish State?” He added that the Israelis have always been willing to recognize the Palestinians, but the hangup has always been the Palestinians’ unwillingness to reciprocate.
