Netanyahu Calls to Oppose ‘Dangerous’ Iran Deal, Warns Blinken Making ‘Big Mistake’

Former Israeli prime minister and current leader of the opposition Benjamin Netanyahu spea
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
Joshua Klein

An impending nuclear deal with Iran currently being pushed by the Biden administration would grant the Islamic Republic hundreds of billions of dollars to be used for “terror and aggression” and wouldn’t avert its attaining of nuclear weapons, warned Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called to oppose the agreement that poses real danger to the U.S., Israel and the world, claiming top US diplomat Antony Blinken was “making a big mistake.”

In a video statement he shared on Twitter Sunday, Netanyahu — speaking in English — called the arrival in Israel of Arab foreign ministers “a welcome thing,” as top Arab diplomats of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt gathered at a historic summit together with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in the Jewish state.

Netanyahu called the meeting “a direct result of the Abraham Accords, which we brought,” in reference to the public normalization of relations between Arab countries and Israel due to former President Donald Trump’s breakthrough in finding a path to peace in the historically troubled region. 

Noting that he had previously met the visiting ministers, the former Israeli prime minister said that strengthening the accords is “a good thing for peace” and Israel, before turning his attention to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Having said that, I strongly disagree with Secretary of State Antony Blinken,” Netanyahu said. “I respect him personally but I think he’s making a big mistake.”

Netanyahu explained how a renewal of the Iran deal would boost the theocratic state’s deadly capabilities.

“Iran without the nuclear agreement is a poor country, an isolated country, a country that has no international legitimacy, and no immunity from the military option,” he said.

“[However,] Iran with a nuclear agreement becomes a rich country with hundreds of billions of dollars which they will use for terror and aggression; a country that breaks through the international isolation and receives immunity for military action,” he added.

He also warned of them of the worldwide dangers posed by a richer and more capable Iran.

“This agreement is dangerous for Israel, for the United States, and for the entire world,” he said. “It doesn’t prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or the means to deliver them to the United States and to Europe because they are allowed under the agreement to develop the ballistic missiles that can deliver atomic warheads.”

Netanyahu concluded by calling on all who seek peace and security to oppose efforts to renew the deal.

“So this agreement has to be opposed and that’s what I expect from the Israeli government and all people who are concerned with the security and peace of the world to do,” he said. “Oppose this agreement now.”

Earlier this month, Netanyahu warned that the Biden administration’s push for a nuclear deal with Iran would grant the Islamic Republic a “nuclear arsenal” in addition to billions in funds for sponsoring terror, adding that Tehran would pose a grave threat toward Americans and the world.

Netanyahu is not the only prominent figure to call out the United States’ handling of the Iran deal, especially in light of a recent Iranian missile strike near a sprawling U.S. consulate complex in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil.

“It would be completely insane for Biden to continue trying to make a deal with Iran after it attacked our consulate in Iraq with ballistic missiles. No talks. No concessions. No new Iran Deal,” wrote former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

“Joe Biden should stop negotiating with the leading state sponsor of terror and start holding Iran accountable for its actions,” tweeted Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).

“The Biden Admin is negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran that is likely even weaker than 2015 agreement. Meanwhile Iran is targeting our service members and diplomats,” wrote Sen. Todd Young (R-IN).

“We need to walk away from this very bad deal that will make us even more vulnerable,” he added.

“Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror,” wrote former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “It must remain designated as such, and terrorist-related sanctions must remain in place.”

“Iran must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” he added.

Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide, claims its nuclear program is for energy purposes, but world leaders, including the six nations that joined the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons capacity, say enriching uranium may lead to Iran’s ability to quickly create a nuclear weapon.

The Obama-led nuclear deal — deemed fatally flawed and highly one-sided by many, and from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 — delineates an enrichment limit of 3.67 percent.

Iran has been accused of violating the agreement as Tehran produces more enriched uranium.

Nevertheless, current nuclear talks in Vienna may see the United States and other world powers provide Iran with economic sanctions relief in exchange for temporary restrictions on its nuclear program.

According to a former State Department official, President Biden’s impending agreement to restore the Iran nuclear deal offers the regime access to $90 billion in foreign currency reserves and sanctions relief to some of the world’s worst terrorists.

Earlier this month, Russia’s envoy to the Iran nuclear talks admitted that Tehran “got much more than it could expect” in the latest iteration of the nuclear deal.

In August, Netanyahu revealed he had refused an offer from then-President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry to adopt the now-failed “Afghanistan model,” which entailed relying upon Palestinian forces to counter terrorists.

“I estimated then that as soon as the United States left Afghanistan, everything would collapse. This is unfortunately what has happened these days: an extremist Islamic regime has conquered Afghanistan and will turn it into a state of terror that will endanger world peace,” he added.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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