Headlines
Israeli PM concerned that Iran may comply with n-deal
Jerusalem, April 12
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has voiced fear that Iran will comply with a nuclear
deal reached with six major world powers earlier this month until a
final deal is sealed by the end of June, a media report revealed on
Sunday.
This came about during a cabinet meeting held on April 3,
a day after Iran and P5+1 group of world powers -- the US, Britain,
China, France and Russia plus Germany -- reached after nine-day talks in
Switzerland's Lausanne a framework accord on parameters of Iran's
nuclear programme with a view to sealing a final comprehensive deal by
the end of June, Xinhua reported citing the Ha'aretz daily.
During
the meeting, Netanyahu said he was afraid that "the Iranians will keep
to every letter in the agreement if indeed one is signed at the end of
June", two Israeli officials were quoted as saying by the daily.
The
officials told the daily that Netanyahu expressed his concern that if
the Iranians live up to the agreement, the international community would
become "complacent" over the prospects of a nuclear bomb.
"Netanyahu
said at the meeting that it would be impossible to catch the Iranians
cheating simply because they will not break the agreement," one of the
officials told the Ha'aretz daily.
According to him, Netanyahu
said the Iranians could have a seal of approval from the international
community to go ahead and develop nuclear bombs after the 10- to 15-year
period of the agreement.
The Israeli Prime Minister is known for
his hardline approach against the Iranian nuclear programme. He
believes that a nuclear Iran will be an "existential threat" to the
state of Israel and to the entire Middle East, although the Iranians
insist their nuclear plan is aimed at peaceful purposes.
Netanyahu
slammed the recent framework agreement, saying it would "threaten the
survival of Israel", adding that Israel "will not accept an agreement
that allows a country that vows to annihilate it to develop nuclear
weapons, period".
He decried the fact that the programme keeps
intact a fixed amount of centrifuges to enrich uranium and enables Iran
to carry on its nuclear research and development, while lifting the
economic sanctions Iran had suffered from for a decade over its nuclear
programme.