Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed President Trump’s “important decision” on Iran, also confirming Israel’s withdrawal from UNESCO.
Speaking during his weekly cabinet meeting last Sunday, Netanyahu commended President Trump and the United States for standing up for Israel in the United Nations after it officially announced its withdrawal from UNESCO last week, as well as President Trump’s decision to not recertify the Iran nuclear deal.
On Friday, October 14, President Trump reiterated his Administration’s stance on the nuclear deal as “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,” stating on Iran’s ongoing violation of the nuclear deal and advances in its missile program “We cannot and will not make this certification. We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout. I am directing my administration to work closely with Congress and our allies to address the deal’s many serious flaws so that the Iranian regime can never threaten the world with nuclear weapons.”
Addressing Trump’s announcement, Netanyahu stated: “It is completely clear, if one examines this agreement, if nothing changes, that Iran will have an arsenal of nuclear weapons within a few years. This agreement does not block this. It creates a sure path to the production of an enrichment system that could quickly bring Iran to dozens of atomic bombs and even more; therefore, the decision is very important.”
On Trump’s decision to not recertify the nuclear deal, as well as his decision to place sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, he stated, “President Trump’s decision creates an opportunity to fix the nuclear agreement and stop Iran’s increasing aggression in our region. I believe that any responsible government, and whoever seeks to promote peace and security in the world, needs to take advantage of the opportunity that President Trump’s decision has created in order to improve the agreement or abrogate it and, of course, stop Iran’s aggression. It is self-evident that the President’s decision to impose sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards needs to be supported. The Revolutionary Guards are Iran’s main arm in spreading terror around the world and, of course, in spreading its aggression throughout the Middle East.”
On UNESCO, the prime minister confirmed that Israel is withdrawing from UNESCO following the United States. He reported “I instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare for Israel’s withdrawal from UNESCO, which has become a platform for delusional, anti-Israeli and – in effect – anti-Semitic decisions. We hope that the organization will change its ways but we are not pinning hopes on this; therefore, my directive to leave the organization stands and we will move forward to carry it out.”
Also reacting to Trump’s recent announcement, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Zarif, accused the president of violating the three articles of the nuclear deal. Zarif announced Saturday that he had already “written nine letters to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini listing the cases where the United States has failed to act on or delayed its commitments under the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action].”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused President Trump of “insults and fake accusations”, stating that “The government of the United States is against the people of the region, against the people of Iran, and the oppressed nations.” Rouhani stated that President Trump, or any president, cannot revoke an international deal, stating “Iran will continue to respect [the nuclear deal]as long as it serves our interests.”
Originally posted on Kehila News Israel.
