Date:
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
In address to Jewish leaders, PM says ‘alternative to a bad deal is not
war’ but stronger sanctions
BY REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL November 12, 2014, 1:45 am | The Times of Israel|
WASHINGTON — Less than two weeks before the deadline for a nuclear deal with
Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned an American audience that the
US should not see Iran as a potential partner but rather as an “enemy of America.”
Speaking by video to the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly on Tuesday
afternoon, Netanyahu asserted that Iran should be “confronted as an enemy.”
“The Islamic State of Iran is not a partner of America. It’s an enemy of America. And it should be
confronted as an enemy,” Netanyahu told the audience who were gathered for the conference’s
final plenary, using a play on Iran’s official moniker — the Islamic Republic of Iran — and the
Islamic State terrorist group.
Over the past few months, both the US and Iran have worked toward the common goal of
reducing Islamic State’s influence in Iraq — but the Obama administration denies that it has any
intention of engaging in military cooperation with Tehran. “Some have suggested that Iran can help
solve the problems of the Middle East. But Iran is not the solution. It’s the problem,” Netanyahu
asserted.
Negotiations with Iran are limping into their final two weeks before the November 24 deadline to
reach a comprehensive agreement under the Joint Plan of Action. Earlier this week, US Secretary
of State John Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart in an effort to bridge a number of key gaps,
but on Sunday, US President Barack Obama acknowledged that the distance between Iran and
P5+1 member states’ negotiating positions remained large.
Israel has consistently pushed for negotiators to demand the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear facilities
that are capable of enriching uranium or plutonium that could be used to manufacture a nuclear
weapon. While negotiators have considered allowing Iran to maintain low-grade enrichment, the
fate of the plutonium facility at Arak remains one of the major sticking points.
“Our goal must be not merely to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons today. We must
also prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons tomorrow,” Netanyahu said. “Avoiding a bad
deal and maintaining strong pressure on Iran should be the policy of all responsible governments.”
“The worst thing that can happen is for the international community to agree to a deal that leaves
Iran as a threshold nuclear power,” he warned. “The alternative to a bad deal is not war. It means
giving sanctions, and even stronger ones, more time to work.”
Speaking a day earlier, one of Obama’s top Middle East policy advisers assured conference
attendees that the US would “only accept an agreement that blocks all of the potential paths to get
a nuclear weapon.”
Philip Gordon said that the US was still focused on reaching an agreement by the November 24
deadline, and that any deal made after that point would be less advantageous for Iran.
If no deal is reached by that late November date, and barring any further extension, the Joint Plan
of Action agreed upon in November 2013 will expire and the full force of US-led sanctions against
Iran will resume. Sanctions have been relaxed in concert with Iranian compliance with the terms of
the Joint Plan of Action, and recent months have seen a flowering of the once-stagnant Iranian
economy.
Both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have warned that should no deal be reached,
Congress is likely to try to impose additional sanctions against Tehran in an effort to pressure Iran
to return, cowed, to the negotiating table.
Although Netanyahu pressed Tuesday for additional sanctions, Gordon said that he was
concerned that such steps could endanger the cohesiveness of the international sanctions regime
currently in place. Gordon argued that the US had sanctions in place against Iran for almost three
decades with little impact, until the international community joined in the effort to pressure Tehran
regarding its nuclear program.