Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the country will not be bound by the pact it reached with the United States on curbing Iran’s nuclear program.
Speaking to a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu stressed that Israel will work to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon while backing out of the 2015 accord, which was ratified by the UN Security Council.
“We are not bound by the JCPOA,” Netanyahu said. “I have no illusions when it comes to the other deal,” he added, in reference to the Additional Protocol. Under this protocol, which Israel considers a precursor to nuclear proliferation, Iran was required to give up sensitive nuclear materials that would give it the ability to make a bomb.
Although the deal would still continue, as did Trump’s backing out, Netanyahu made it clear he will continue to push the global community to punish Iran on the ground. In Israel, his actions will come at a time when it is giving itself funding boost in large part due to an increase in settlement expansion. Last week, Iran warned that “nobody should underestimate the depth of Israel’s military capabilities, especially its air force,” reported Reuters.
Netanyahu made the case that keeping the nuclear deal would force “the world to accept Iran on the threshold of a nuclear weapon” which, he said, “is exactly what President Obama’s deal permits.”
