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Netanyahu: Iran 'Grasping the Middle East With Arms of Terror and Blood'
Monday, April 13, 2015 06:17 PM
By: Cathy Burke
In his latest blast at the emerging nuclear deal with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that such an agreement only hastens Tehran's "grasping the Middle East with arms of terror and blood."
"There is no convincing explanation to the effect that the nuclear deal being offered to Iran is a good deal for one simple reason: it is a bad deal, a very bad deal," Netanyahu said at a dedication ceremony for Israel's national police academy, the online Israel National News reports — and hours after Russia said it would lift its ban on delivery of S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran.
"Iran draws encouragement from the concessions that it is receiving from the major powers," Netanyahu added, the Times of Israel reports.
"The message that Iran is receiving from this is that it is not being called upon to halt its aggression, that it can continue and even increase this aggression, and this is exactly what it is doing. It has been doing so in recent months, in recent weeks and in recent days … It is grasping the Middle East with arms of terror and blood."
The deal with the United States and other world powers must be finalized by a June 30 deadline — a date by which Iran will get "international legitimacy," Netanyahu says — as well as "billions of dollars to finance its war and terrorism machines."
"Before our very eyes an absurd reality is taking shape in which the key to our fate and the future of the Middle East is liable to be delivered into the hands of the fanatical Iranian regime," Netanyahu said. "An agreement full of holes with Iran will not ensure regional stability; a vigorous and resolute policy that prevents it from arming itself with nuclear weapons and compels it to halt its takeover of other nations would."
The Times of Israel notes that Netanyahu's condemnation comes as officials in Jerusalem say Iran has been stepping up its arms support for terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas in past weeks — and as a host of technical issues remain unresolved in the deal with Tehran, including the steps for lifting global sanctions and still-unanswered questions over the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program.
