With yet another deadline expired to seal a final nuclear deal with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the Islamic Republic is planning to “take over the world.”
During a memorial service in Jerusalem marking 111 years since the death of modern Zionism visionary Theodor Herzl, Netanyahu said, “Iran’s growing aggression is several times more dangerous than that of IS, which is dangerous enough.”
“And this aggression, which aims to reach every corner of the world, has the ultimate true aim of taking over the world,” he added.
Netanyahu criticized the emerging nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran, in which he said weakened world powers are capitulating to too many Iranian demands.
“Iran, which is the greatest patron of terror in the world, is extorting from world powers more and more concessions,” he claimed. “Iran is the greatest threat to world peace. The capitulation agreement that Iran is about to get from world powers is paving the way for it to arm itself with nuclear weapons and to carry them further with the missiles that it continues to develop, and of course to spread terror.”
Officials from the P5+1 nations – US, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany – extended nuclear talks with Iran for the second time in a week on Tuesday, giving themselves until Friday to reach an agreement. A Western official told AFP that there remains “very, very, very tough” issues.
Over the last two years, western and Iranian diplomats have been attempting to broker a deal revolving around Iran’s nuclear program, ending a 13-year standoff. “Removing the remaining brackets [in the text of the agreement], this seems to be very, very, very tough,” the official stated.
“It’s difficult to see why and how we could go any longer,” a second official said. “Either this works in the next 48 hours or it doesn’t.”
White House Spokesman Josh Earnest suggested on Tuesday that the US is unlikely to walk away from talks despite missed deadlines. Regarding the possibility of open-ended negotiations, he stated, “We’ve got some bipartisan agreement that this is an available approach that could benefit the United States and our negotiating partners in a way that continues to keep the pressure on Iran to reach a final agreement.”
The US “won’t walk away from the table as long as the negotiations continue to be useful,” he added.
The US is rushing to finalize a deal in order to push it through Congress on an express approval route. Should US Secretary of State John Kerry fail to hand over a deal to US lawmakers by Thursday, Congress would have 60 days instead of 30 to review the agreement.
