Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered a stinging attack on Barack Obama's plans for a nuclear deal with Iran on the US president's home ground in a combative address to the US Congress.
In a speech arranged on an invitation by the Republican Party bypassing White House diplomatic protocol, the Israeli leader warned the deal being negotiated in the US-led talks posed a "grave threat, not only to Israel but also to the peace of the entire world".
In a direct challenge to Mr Obama, he urged Congress to block the deal, saying it would enable Tehran to build nuclear weapons: “It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them.”
Mr Obama wants Iran to freeze its nuclear programme for at least a decade in return for relief from sanctions, as negotiations approach a critical March 31st deadline to agree a broad outline of a deal and a final agreement by June 30th.
Nothing new
Mr Obama said that there was “nothing new” proposed by Mr Netanyahu during his speech. “On the core issue, which is how do we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon which would make it far more dangerous ... the prime minister didn’t offer any viable alternatives,” said the president.
“The alternative that the prime minister offers is no deal, in which case Iran would immediately begin once again pursuing its nuclear programme without us having any insight into what they’re doing, and without constraint,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu, invited to speak to Congress by Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner without consulting the White House, wants Iran's nuclear programme dismantled completely.
Welcomed with whoops and cheers in a packed House chamber, Mr Netanyahu's speech was punctuated with dozens of rounds of applause and numerous standing ovations, led by raucous Republicans, as he slated the deal being negotiated by the US with the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.
“This is a bad deal; it’s a very bad deal. We’re better off without it,” he told a joint session of Congress, his third speech to the legislature. “Now we’re being told that the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That’s just not true. The alternative to this bad deal is a much better deal.”
Militant Islam
Mr Netanyahu said the battle between Iran and Islamic State militants in
Iraq
and
Syria
would not turn Iran into a “friend of America” – both were “competing for the crown of militant Islam”.
“So when it comes to Iran and Isis, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy,” he said.
Republicans who, along with some Democrats, want fresh sanctions against Tehran, embraced Mr Netanyahu’s visit as the Israeli leader placed himself in the middle of the raging debate between the White House and the Congress on how to deal with Iran.
“I deeply regret that some perceive my being here as political. That was never my intention,” he said at the start of his 40-minute address.
