‘Netanyahu’s Iran speech insult to intelligence of United States’
Washington: While Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech aimed at blocking a nuclear deal with Iran might have received rapturous applause and standing ovations from the Republican members of the US Congress, President Barack Obama and the democrats were clearly left disappointed.While Obama brushed the speech aside, saying it offered no new “viable alternatives”, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelocy went to the extent of calling his address an “insult to the intelligence of the United States” that left her in tears.
In a powerfully-worded speech, that intended to convince the US House against the dangers of a possible US-Iran nuke deal, Israeli PM Netanyahu said that it was a “very bad deal” which instead of locking Iran’s nuke pursuit, will “pave its way to the bomb”.
“We’ve been told that no deal is better than a bad deal…Well this is a bad deal, a very bad deal, We’re better off without it,” he said.
“It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb…It paves Iran’s path to the bomb,” Netanyahu roared, adding that Iran was used to playing the “game of ‘hide and cheat’ with UN inspectors”.
Portraying Iran as a “threat to the world”, Netanyahu added that the only way to ensure that Tehran does not build a nuke weapon was to continue pressuring it with economic sanctions.
“Now, if Iran threatens to walk away from the table — and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff. They’ll be back, because they need the deal a lot more than you do.”
However, President Barack Obama who neither met Netanyahu, nor watched his address, was critical of his speech transcript, saying that the Premier did not offer any new alternatives.
Lambasting Netanyahu, Obama said that the only alternative the Israeli PM offered was a ‘no deal’, that will lead Iran to immediately pursue “its nuclear programme, accelerate its nuclear programme without us having any insight into what they are doing and without constraint”.
“On the core issue, which is how to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon which would make it far more dangerous, the prime minister did not offer any viable alternatives,” he said.
Issuing a blistering attack on Netanyahu’s address, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said that netanyahu’s speech was saddening and she was moved to tears.
“I was near tears throughout the prime minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States as part of the P5 +1 nations, and saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran and our broader commitment to preventing nuclear proliferation”.
