Netanyahu dubs Lausanne framework a 'historic mistake'

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, whose address to the U.S. Congress last month failed to stop the United States and five other major powers agreeing a framework accord with Tehran on the Iranian nuclear program, declared his security cabinet united in opposition to the resultant framework of the Lausanne meetings. After tension with the American administration (due to the events in Congress and the accusations that Israel was spying on the talks, as well as the race-baiting comments made during the Israeli elections), it seems that Netanyahu and Israel have very little influence upon the final agreement to be made between Iran and the P5+1 group of negotiating countries.

"Israel demands that any final agreement with Iran will include a clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel's right to exist," Netanyahu said in a statement shortly after emerging from the cabinet meeting. "Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period." U.S. President Barack Obama called Netanyahu within hours of the talks concluding, saying the deal represented progress toward a lasting solution that cuts off Iran's path to a nuclear weapon. In a statement, Obama referred to the success in Switzerland as a “historic understanding”; Netanyahu dubbed it a “historic mistake”, claiming that a final accord based on the results of the Lausanne negotiations would threaten the survival of Israel.

"This deal would legitimise Iran's nuclear programme, bolster Iran's economy and increase Iran's aggression and terror throughout the Middle East and beyond," Netanyahu said. "It would increase the risks of nuclear proliferation in the region and the risks of a horrific war." Netanyahu stands in direct opposition to Obama, who has stated his belief that a diplomatic resolution would avoid the escalation of the dispute into war. Obama’s reassurance that he would not allow "any daylight" between their positions on Israel’s security have not satisfied Netanyahu.

An Israeli official close to Netanyahu later reiterated the points, saying the agreement provided "no demand that Iran stop its aggression in the region, its terrorism around the world or its threats to destroy Israel, which it has repeated again over the past several days," TIME reported. The official was referring to the comments made by Iranian Revolutionary guard leader Mohammad Reza Naqdi, who said that "erasing Israel off the map" was a "non-negotiable" goal.

A political opponent of Netanyahu's, Omer Bar-Lev, said one point in the agreement, a one-year "breakout time" in which Iran could weaponise its nuclear capabilities should the agreement collapse, was not enough to calm Israel.

"If we can convince [the P5+1 negotiators] to work on these small details, maybe we can get to a point where there will be an expansion of that time period, and perhaps we can get something that is less bad than what we're seeing here," Bar-Lev said.

Israel, the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, has previously said it could take pre-emptive military action if necessary to stop Iran getting such weapons. In 1981, Israel attacked and destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction in Iran. While the bellicose rhetoric has died down over the past year or so, members of the Israeli military and security forces expressed their belief that the possibility remains.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said the agreement was "disconnected from the sad reality" of the continued violence in the Middle East. When asked by Israeli Radio if he would support a military strike on Iran, he added, "if we have no choice, we have no choice. I don't want to talk about a military option, other than to say it exists."

"The military option has always been on the table, as we have said all along," Major-General Nimrod Sheffer told Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday. "If it has not been mentioned much in the media recently, that does not reflect a change in policy." The chances of Israel going it alone militarily against Iran would appear to be very slim, but with the Republican-led Congress also critical of the deal, Netanyahu may feel he can put pressure on the U.S. administration to push harder.

"The alternative is standing firm and increasing the pressure on Iran until a better deal is achieved," he said.

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