TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday warned that the only way to keep the Iran deal in place is to heed President Donald Trump’s advice and fix it.
“Trump’s remarks should be taken seriously, and whoever wants to keep the nuclear deal would be wise to fix it,” Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron according to a statement released by his office.
The prime minister added that the international community must “strongly condemn the five crimes of the Iranian regime,” including its “efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, developing ballistic missiles against UN Security Council resolutions, supporting terror, regional aggression” and “the cruel repression of Iranian citizens.”
Trump on Friday told the European signatories of the 2015 nuclear accord to either “fix the deal’s disastrous flaws, or the United States will withdraw.”
Macron’s office said that he emphasized to Netanyahu “the importance of preserving the Iran nuclear deal and the necessary respect by all parties of their engagements regarding the accord.”
The White House has requested that a supplemental agreement be attached to the deal to impose new terms. Failure to do so will result in Trump’s refusal to sign a waiver suspending sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
“Today, I am waiving the application of certain nuclear sanctions, but only in order to secure our European allies’ agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said in a statement. “This is a last chance.”
“In the absence of such an agreement,” he went on, “the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. And if at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach, I will withdraw from the deal immediately.”
“No one should doubt my word. I said I would not certify the nuclear deal – and I did not. I will also follow through on this pledge. I hereby call on key European countries to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people. If other nations fail to act during this time, I will terminate our deal with Iran. Those who, for whatever reason, choose not to work with us will be siding with the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions, and against the people of Iran and the peaceful nations of the world.”
Tehran has flatly rejected any changes to the deal.
In the meantime, Washington imposed other sanctions against 14 Iranian individuals and entities, including judiciary head Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the move “crossed all red lines of conduct in the international community and is a violation of international law and will surely be answered by a serious reaction of the Islamic Republic,” state media reported.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.