Israel Ignores Obama On Iran

Israel, warning of an imminent nuclear deal, has ignored U.S. appeals to stop criticizing President Barack Obama’s rapproachment with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has continued to lobby Congress to maintain U.S. sanctions on Iran. Netanyahu has been meeting delegations from the House and Senate in which the prime minister criticized U.S.-led negotiations to resolve Iran’s nuclear crisis.

“This is the deal of the century — for Iran,” Netanyahu said.

On late Nov. 7, Netanyahu met a visiting U.S. Congress delegation and warned the lawmakers of an impending nuclear deal by the so-called P5+1 with Teheran. The prime minister said the proposals submitted at the next round of talks in Nov. 8 would end international sanctions of Iran’s mullah regime.

“Because Iran is essentially giving nothing and it’s getting all the air taken out, the air begins to be taken out of the pressure cooker that it took years to build in the sanctions regime,” Netanyahu said.

Over the last day, both Iranian and U.S. officials have expressed confidence of an impending nuclear deal in Geneva. They said Washington proposed to ease sanctions and unfreeze assets in exchange for a six-month suspension of portions of Iran’s nuclear program.

“What we’re looking for now is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward for the first time in decades and that potentially rolls part of it back,” a senior U.S. official told a briefing on Nov. 6. “In response to a first step agreed to by Iran that halts their program from advancing further, we are prepared to offer limited, targeted and reversible sanctions relief.”

Netanyahu said the proposed resolution would result in a brief Iranian suspension of uranium enrichment. In exchange, he said, the sanctions regime on Iran’s oil exports and other sectors would end.

“That’s a big mistake, it will relieve all the pressure inside Iran,” Netanyahu said. “It is a historic mistake, a grievous historic error.”

The Netanyahu warning came amid increasing tensions between Israel and the Obama administration. Hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israel of renewed conflict and international isolation unless it reached agreement for a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Kerry has also been assigned to improve U.S. relations with Teheran.

In an earlier address, Netanyahu told American Jewish leaders that Israel was prepared to respond unilaterally to Iran’s nuclear program. He reiterated the need for Iran to end uranium enrichment and water plutonium reactor.

“Anything else will make a peaceful solution less likely,” Netanyahu said. “Israel always reserves the right to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.”