BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his much anticipated address to Congress yesterday, outlining his objections to the emerging nuclear deal with Iran and warning that such an agreement would pave the way to Iranian nuclear armament.

He began by addressing the controversy surrounding the speech, stating, “I know that some perceived my being here as political. That was never my intention.” Instead, Netanyahu said he had a “profound obligation” to address “an issue that could well threaten my country.” He then urged “We must all stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest subjugation and terror,” adding “Iran’s regime poses a great threat not only to Israel but also to the peace of the entire world.”

Netanyahu explained that the nascent agreement “doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb.” Among his objections, Netanyahu said that allowing Iran to retain nuclear facilities and development capability meant “Iran’s nuclear program would be left largely intact” and that consequently “Iran’s break-out time would be very short — about a year by U.S. assessment, even shorter by Israel’s.” He also tackled the suggestion of a ten-year agreement, saying “a decade may seem a long time in political world but it’s a blink of an eye in the life of a nation,” arguing that such an arrangement would merely allow Iran to delay its nuclear development. Summarising, Netanyahu said, “We have been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well this is a bad deal. It is a very bad deal. We are better off without it.” The alternative to the deal, argued Netanyahu is not war, but rather “a much better deal.”

Notably, Netanyahu did not make an explicit demand for Iran’s enrichment capacity to completely removed as in the past, but rather argued that the roll back of capabilities in the proposed deal was insufficient. He called for a deal that did not leave such a short break out time and for an agreement that “Israel and its neighbours may not like, but with which we could live.”

He further said that, “If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country.” Laying out conditions for the lifting restrictions on Iran when the proposed deal expires, Netanyahu said Tehran must, “First, stop its aggression against its neighbours in the Middle East. Second, stop supporting terrorism around the world. And third, stop threatening to annihilate my country.”

Speaking from the Oval Office following the speech, President Obama said that Netanyahu had not offered any “viable alternatives” to the current proposition and that his speech contained “nothing new.”