Itongadol.- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu characterized the agreement signed with Iran early Sunday morning as a historic mistake.
Directly contrasting US President Barack Obama who praised the agreement as opening a "new path toward a world that is more secure," Netanyahu – speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting — said the world has become more dangerous as a result.
"What was agreed last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake," he said. "Today the world has become much more dangerous because the most dangerous regime in the world took a significant step to getting the most dangerous weapon in the world."
For the first time, he said, the leading powers of the world agreed to uranium enrichment in Iran, while removing sanctions that it has taken years to build up in exchange for "cosmetic Iranian concession that are possible to do away with in a matter of weeks."
Netanyahu said the consequences of this deal threaten many countries, including Israel. He reiterated what he has said in the past, that Israel is not obligated by the agreement.
"Iran is committed to Israel\’s destruction, and Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself against any threat" he said. "I want to make clear as the prime minister of Israel, Israel will not allow Iran develop a military nuclear capability."
Netanyahu\’s government denounced world powers\’ nuclear agreement with Iran on Sunday as a "bad deal" to which Israel would not be bound.
Yet Israeli officials stopped short of threatening unilateral military action that could further isolate the Jewish state and imperil its bedrock alliance with Washington, saying more time was needed to assess the agreement.
"This is a bad deal. It grants Iran exactly what it wanted – both a significant easing in sanctions and preservation of the most significant parts of its nuclear program," an official in Netanyahu\’s office said.
Aimed at ending a dangerous standoff, the agreement between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia was nailed down after more than four days of negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva.
A senior US official said the agreement halted progress on Iran\’s nuclear program, including construction of the Arak research reactor, which is of special concern for the West as it can yield potential bomb material.
It would neutralize Iran\’s stockpile of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which is a close step away from the level needed for weapons, and calls for intrusive UN nuclear inspections, the official said.
The Islamic republic – which denies its nuclear program has hostile designs – has also committed to stop uranium enrichment above a fissile purity of 5 percent, a US fact sheet said.
But that still appeared to fall far short of Netanyahu\’s demand for a total rollback of the Iranian nuclear program.
"You stand and shout out until you\’re blue in the face, and you try to understand why they\’re not listening. The world wanted an agreement," Finance Minister Yair Lapid, a member of Netanyahu\’s security cabinet, told Israel\’s Army Radio.