Obama rejects Israel demand on Iran deal
Print Edition
United States President Barack Obama has rejected a call by Israel for any nuclear agreement with Iran to be conditional on Tehran’s recognition of the Jewish state’s right to exist, branding it a “fundamental misjudgment.”
Speaking after Israel proposed its own terms for the accord, Obama told US radio network NPR on Monday that demands for Iran to recognize the country go beyond the scope of the agreement. “The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel, is really akin to saying that we won’t sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms,” he said in a drive to sell the deal to a hostile Congress.
“And that is, I think, a fundamental misjudgment.”
Israel’s government reacted angrily to the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program announced last week, with a final accord due by June 30.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded on Sunday that Iranian recognition of the Jewish state’s right to exist be written into the agreement.
Intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz told journalists on Monday that while an earlier pledge by Obama to back Israel’s security was appreciated, it did not outweigh the potential threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
“If Iran will produce nuclear weapons, this is an existential threat to Israel,” Steinitz said.
“Nobody can tell us that backing and assistance are enough to completely resist or to neutralize such a threat.”
Steinitz proposed that the emerging deal between Iran and world powers should incorporate a total halt to research and development on a new generation of centrifuges, a cut in the number of existing centrifuges and closure of the Fordo facility for enrichment of uranium.
Under the outline deal, the US and the European Union are to lift all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran in exchange for a 98-percent cut in Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium for 15 years, while its unfinished Arak reactor will not produce weapons-grade plutonium.
Steinitz said that since Thursday’s announcement officials have studied the proposals carefully. “A comprehensive analysis of the Lausanne framework reveals the extent of the irresponsible concessions given to Iran and makes clear how dangerous the framework is for Israel, the region and the entire world,” he said.
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