Netanyahu on Iran deal: The more you read it, the worse it gets
Inspections clause is farcical, sanctions snap-back clause is incomprehensible, and a major Iranian terror chief, Qassem Soleimani, has been removed from the terror list, PM protests
By Avi Lewis July 15, 2015, 3:50 pm 60
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that perusal of the previous day’s nuclear deal with Iran yields a picture that grows ever bleaker.
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The agreement is “filled with absurdities,” Netanyahu said, scolding world leaders for caving in to Iran’s “charm offensive” and crediting Israel with leading the fight against an Iranian bomb.
He called on the Knesset to present a united front in the fight against the “bad in every respect” pact. “The agreement that was signed in Vienna is not the final word. We will continue to fight,” Netanyahu pledged.
Iran and the world powers signed an agreement Tuesday in Vienna that mandates the Islamic Republic scale back some of its nuclear capabilities in exchange for a rollback of economic sanctions.
“When we examine this agreement — which is bad in every aspect — when we read this agreement, the picture becomes more bleak and we discover it’s filled with absurdities,” Netanyahu said.
“For example, the agreement gives Iran 24 days’ [notice] before an inspection; it’s like giving a criminal organization that produces drugs a 24-hour warning before performing a search,” he said.
Chief of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, attends a meeting of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard in Tehran, Iran, September 17, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, File)
Chief of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, attends a meeting of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard in Tehran, Iran, September 17, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, File)
“In addition, the sanction snap-back mechanism is so complicated and serpentine that one needs a PhD to understand it. One clause creates a huge incentive to invest in Iran because it says that the reinstatement of sanctions will not apply to agreements that have [already taken place]. Another section includes the people that were removed from the sanctions list, one of them being Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s global terror arm. It is absurd, terror [meets] nuclear [power],” he said, referring to the commander of Iran’s elite Quds force.
According to Netanyahu, Western leaders were too easily beguiled by the Iranian regime, and if not for Israel’s efforts, Tehran would already possess a bomb.
“There is a willingness in the West to accept despotic regimes and seek peace at any price. Not all of them have internalized the lessons of history. Even today, the powers are won over by a charm offensive. I am not saying that we are in 1938 for two reasons; firstly, back then, no precedent existed for what was to occur, while today that [precedent] exists; secondly, today we have a state, while then we didn’t, and its purpose is to to act against those that threaten it,” Netanyahu said.
“If not for the efforts made by Israel, Iran would have already had the ability to arm itself with nuclear bombs. We exposed the Iranian issue on the international stage. We led the implementation of biting sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table. We set before Iran a red line on the issue of uranium enrichment which it has not yet crossed,” he said.
“One who speaks truth about this agreement is the president of Iran, who said that Iran has achieved all its objectives,” Netanyahu said, referring to President Hassan Rouhani who said Tuesday following the deal that “all the four objectives have been achieved.”
“We are not committed to this agreement and will continue to oppose it. For existential [threats] there is no coalition or opposition. We need a united front to ensure our survival,” Netanyahu said.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-on-iran-deal-the-more-you-read-it-the-worse-it-gets/
