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Israeli Cabinet ‘united’ against Iran deal

by Jesse Byrnes - 04/03/15 9:31 AM ET

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said his Cabinet is firmly against the preliminary framework deal reached with Tehran by six world leaders over Iran’s nuclear program.

“The cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal,” Netanyahu said in a statement following a meeting with his top officials Friday.

“This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

{mosads}Netanyahu, a vocal critic of the U.S.-led moves to secure a deal that eventually lifts economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on its nuclear program, suggested the deal would backfire.

“Such a deal does not block Iran’s path to the bomb. Such a deal paves Iran’s path to the bomb,” Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, a leader of Friday prayers in Tehran praised the framework agreement, suggesting that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian leaders might back the preliminary deal.

Netanyahu spoke with President Obama late Thursday following the release of the outline agreement, which Obama touted in a White House Rose Garden speech as “historic.”

Under the agreement, Iran would scale down its installed centrifuges from around 19,000 to about 6,000, place all of its nuclear facilities under international inspection and extend Iran’s breakout time to obtain enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb from around 3 months to at least 1 year.

Netanyahu condemned the agreement for not forcing Iran to shut down any nuclear facilities — the Fordow facility, for example, will keep a third of its centrifuges but be barred from producing enriched uranium for 15 years — as well as not destroying the uninstalled centrifuges or stopping research and development on advanced centrifuges.

“The deal would legitimize Iran’s illegal nuclear program. It would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure. A vast nuclear infrastructure remains in place,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu charged that the preliminary agreement “might very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East and it would greatly increase the risks of terrible war.”

Instead, he suggested the U.S. and five major international powers continue with negotiations by “standing firm” and “increasing the pressure on Iran until a good deal is achieved.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, who led a U.S. team of negotiators in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday cast the agreement as a “solid foundation for the good deal we are seeking” by the final June 30 deadline.

Tags John Kerry