ISIS threat 'nothing' compared to nuclear Iran, Netanyahu warns (again)
As the Iranian nuclear negotiations teeter on the brink, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is saying the world has more to fear from a nuclear-capable Iran than ISIS terrorists. The statement comes after the jihadists threatened to “uproot” the Jewish state.
Netanyahu’s statement was made on Thursday, as the talks over Iran’s nuclear program held in Vienna showed no clear sign of progressing to a solution acceptable to all sides.
The Israeli PM, famous for showing a cartoon with a bomb at the UN to illustrate his fears, made the warning during a visit to Israel’s cyber park in Beersheba.
He sent his condolences to Egypt for the recent terrorist attacks in Sinai that killed dozens of troops, along with nearly 100 attackers, and that the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility for. Having declared that the two countries are partners in the fight against the terrorist group, Netanyahu went on to claim that its actions are “nothing” compared to the prospect of a nuclear Iran.
“Obviously no one thinking with a clear mind would consider giving Islamic State nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said as cited by the Jerusalem Post. “But in the negotiations taking place now with Iran, this extreme state that spreads terrorism around the world is being given the ability to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal with many nuclear bombs, together with the means to deliver them.
“We should not strengthen one at the expense of the other,” he went on. “We need to weaken both and prevent the aggression and military buildup of both of them.”
The fresh warning by Netanyahu also comes on the heels of a rare video publication from IS, intent on threatening both Israel and everyone in the vicinity, including Hamas, over in Gaza.
But Netanyahu’s doom-laden prophecies are nothing new. The PM in late May also claimed he sees “no reason to rush to a deal, and certainly not a bad deal that paves Iran’s path to the bomb, but also fills Iran’s coffers with tens of billions of dollars to pursue its aggression throughout the Middle East and around Israel’s borders.”
He had then called Iran “the preeminent terrorist state of our time,” again, issuing unfavorable comparisons to the IS.
What it really takes for a US-Iran deal (Op-Edge by Pepe Escobar) http://t.co/THqmTCBTyhpic.twitter.com/GG4UVaRAfC
— RT (@RT_com) 1 июля 2015
Over in Vienna, the six world powers tasked with negotiating over Tehran’s nuclear program have extended the deadline for a decision by one week as of June 30.
The P5+1 group of international mediators – the UK, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany – have been locked in lengthy negotiations with Iran to ensure the peaceful nature of the program.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to announce in July that Iran has reduced its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to the level of about 7,650kg, which was required to be done under a preliminary nuclear deal by June 30, Reuters reported, citing diplomatic sources at the Vienna talks. Previously Iran had some 8,714 kg of low-enriched uranium.
The extension was reportedly necessitated by “US negotiators… opening up discussions points that Iran thought they’d already dealt with,” according to Sharmine Narwani, a Middle East commentator speaking recently to RT. This reportedly includes more leeway for inspectors to survey Iran’s military sites, a provision the Islamic republic has already rejected.
