Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the United States about accepting a nuclear deal with Iran, likening Tehran to Islamic State in a much anticipated speech before lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday (March 3).
“The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn’t turn Iran into a friend of America. Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam. Both want to impose a militant Islamic empire first on the region and then on the entire world,” Netanyahu said.
“This deal has two major concessions: one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That’s why this deal is so bad. It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb,” the Israeli leader said in a 39-minute speech to the U.S. Congress that offered a point-by-point critique of Obama’s Iran diplomacy.
In an appearance that strained U.S.-Israeli relations and was boycotted by dozens of Obama’s fellow Democrats, Netanyahu said the deal would destabilize the region by triggering a nuclear arms race.
“The Middle East would soon be criss-crossed by nuclear tripwires. A region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars would turn into a nuclear tinderbox,” Netanyahu told lawmakers and visitors in the House of Representatives.
Netanyahu also took a moment to honor Nobel peace laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, 86 who received a prolonged standing ovation.
Turning to the “Night” author, the Israeli leader said, “I wish I could promise you, Elie, that the lessons of history have been learned. I can only urge the leaders of the world not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The speech escalated Netanyahu’s campaign against Obama’s Iran diplomacy, putting unprecedented stress on the two leaders’ ties.
“The greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle, but lose the war,”Netanyahu said
Netanyahu wants the Iranians stripped of nuclear projects that might be used to get a bomb – something Tehran insists it does not want. Washington deems the Israeli demand unrealistic.
Obama said the prime minister offered no “viable alternatives” to the current course of negotiations.
Netanyahu’s speech culminated a diplomatic storm triggered by his acceptance in January of a Republican invitation that bypassed the White House. Many Democrats considered it an affront to the president.
Obama refused to meet Netanyahu, saying that doing so just ahead of Israel’s March 17 general election would be seen as interference. The president, who has a history of testy encounters with Netanyahu, said he did not watch the televised speech but read the transcript.
REUTERS/HOUSE TV
