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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the emerging nuclear deal between the United States, Iran, and the major world powers during a drama-filled address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday morning, but failed to offer any alternatives for ensuring that Tehran does not obtain nuclear weapons.
Instead, the Prime Minister of the Jewish state — who spoke for 40 minutes and was interrupted by applause roughly 40 times — hinted that his country could take military action “alone” against Iran in protest of any negotiated agreement.
Though the negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons have yet to produce a final accord, and Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly insisted that publicly available details about the talks are “not true,” Netanyahu warned that the United States is preparing to sign-off on an agreement that “all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them.”
“As a prime minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing: Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand,” he declared, eliciting loud applause from the chamber.
According to press accounts, the United States, Iran, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, are in fact closing the gap around an agreement that would establish multi-year regime of strict inspections and controls on Iran’s uranium enrichment — preventing it from obtaining enough materials for weaponization. Should Iran comply, the international community would then lift economic sanctions against the country during the final five years. American officials insist that the United States is “looking for a deal that will prove over the long term” and will only sign off on an agreement that ensures that “each pathway to a bomb is closed off.”
