Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Monday 7 May 2018

Israeli PM steps up calls to end the Iranian nuclear deal

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Security Studies, an Israeli
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's think tank, said Trump is
prime minister on Sunday playing "a game of chick-
stepped up his calls for en" with Iran in hopes of re-
world powers to end the negotiating a better deal.
2015 nuclear deal with Iran "They hope that by threat-
as President Donald Trump ening to walk away from
decides whether to with- the deal they might get
draw from the agreement that. I am not so sure, not
by next week. so sure, the Europeans are
In a briefing to foreign re- not on board, of course the
porters, Benjamin Netanya- Russians and the Chinese
hu said the world would be are not on board," he said.
better off without any deal Walking away, he added,
than with what he called could have hard-to-predict
the "fatally flawed" agree- consequences.
ment reached in 2015. Israel considers Iran its arch-
Netanyahu said Israel is enemy, citing Iran's calls for
sharing a trove of confis- Israel's destruction, support
cated Iranian nuclear doc- for militant groups across
uments with the six world the region and growing mil-
powers that signed the itary activity in neighboring
deal, as well as other coun- Syria. Israel has warned that
tries, in hopes of mounting it will not allow Iran, whose
further opposition to the troops are backing Syrian
deal. He heads to Moscow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sun- President Bashar Assad, to
later this week for a meet- day, May 6, 2018. establish a permanent mili-
ing with President Vladimir Associated Press tary presence in Syria.
Putin, where talks will fo- Israel is believed to have
cus on the Iranian nuclear objections and hinted he Netanyahu last week European countries, which been behind recent air-
program and Iran's involve- will withdraw from the deal showed off what he said have been pressing Trump strikes on Syrian military
ment in neighboring Syria. unless it is renegotiated. was a "half ton" of Iranian to stick with the deal, have bases that killed Iranian sol-
"I said it from the start, it Netanyahu did not accuse nuclear documents dating said Netanyahu's presen- diers, prompting Tehran to
has to be either fully fixed Iran of violating the deal. back to 2003. tation only reinforced the vow retaliation. Israel has
or fully nixed," Netanyahu Instead, he said the deal, A senior Israeli intelligence importance of the agree- neither confirmed nor de-
said. "But if you do nothing reached by the Obama official said there were ment, which provides for nied involvement.
to this deal, if you keep it as administration, was so over 100,000 pages of doc- inspections. The possibility of the nu-
is, you will end up with Iran weak that Iran has no need uments that gave Israel It remains unclear what clear deal collapsing has
with a nuclear arsenal in a to break it. He said the flaws new insight into how far the would happen if the U.S. raised concerns it might
very short time." include permission for Iran Iranian nuclear program withdraws from the deal embolden Iran to strike Is-
Netanyahu was a vo- to continue some low-lev- progressed. The official, but the other countries re- raeli targets.
cal opponent of the deal el enrichment of uranium speaking on condition of main committed. Netanyahu told his Cabi-
when it was reached dur- and its continued develop- anonymity under briefing Netanyahu appears to be net earlier Sunday that Iran
ing the Obama admin- ment of long-range missiles guidelines, said the volume betting that the pressure of has delivered advanced
istration. The agreement capable of delivering a of information showed the renewed American sanc- weapons to Syria "in or-
lifted painful economic bomb. He said the nuclear program was more "com- tions could be enough to der to attack us both on
sanctions against Iran in documents unveiled by Is- prehensive and robust" persuade companies to the battlefield and on the
exchange for curbs on its rael last week prove that than previously thought. stop doing business with home front."
nuclear program. Netan- Iran also pursued the know- Trump's criticism of the deal Iran. He also seems to be "We are determined to
yahu has repeatedly ar- how on how to develop has given Netanyahu a hopeful that the threat of block Iran's aggression
gued that the deal will not and detonate a bomb. rare chance to reopen ne- military action, either U.S. against us even if this
prevent Iran from gaining "I say that a deal that en- gotiations that appeared or Israeli, will deter Iran from means a struggle. Better
nuclear weapons capabil- ables Iran to keep and to have concluded in 2015. resuming its nuclear activi- now than later," he said.
ity after its restrictions ex- hide all its nuclear weap- So far, Europe, China and ties. "We do not want escala-
pire in the next decade or ons know-how, is a horrible Russia have shown no inter- Yoel Guzansky, an analyst tion, but we are prepared
so. Trump has voiced similar deal," he said. est in revisiting the topic. at the Institute for National for any scenario."q