Lapid Calls Iran Nuclear Deal a ‘Bad Agreement’

Prime Minister Yair Lapid held a briefing for reporters on Sunday, reiterating the country’s stance against the emerging nuclear deal between Iran and Western countries while reaffirming Israel’s commitment to relations with the United States.

“This agreement is a bad agreement. It was already bad when it was signed in 2015,” Lapid said at the beginning of the briefing. “Today the dangers inherent in it are even greater. It is closer to its end date, and Iran is in a different place technologically.”

Lapid added that, in his opinion, Israel is “still paying for the damage caused by [former Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.”

In 2015, Netanyahu gave a speech to the Congress, where he blasted the nuclear deal as “very bad,” hoping to convince then-President Barack Obama not to make concessions to Iran.

During his speech, Lapid stated that, as a result, the United States froze dialogue with Israel and did not allow Israel to introduce amendments to the nuclear agreement.

“We must not get to the situation we were in in 2015,” Lapid continued.

Later in the day, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu responded, accusing Lapid of “completely abandoning” the fight to block talks to resume the Iran deal over the past year.

“In the past year, Lapid and [Defense Minister Benny Gantz] completely abandoned the public struggle against the Iran nuclear deal,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “For 12 years, we fought this deal with determination and even caused the U.S. to withdraw from it. But in their only year in power, Lapid and Gantz let their guard down and enabled the U.S. and Iran to reach a nuclear deal that endangers our future.”

As proof of the government’s “helplessness,” Netanyahu noted that former prime minister Naftali Bennett, now in charge of Iran-related matters, “is currently vacationing in Italy, on the eve of the deal’s signing, and in an area without reception.”

At the briefing, Lapid noted that, although the “political directive” of Israel is to “fight against the agreement with all [our] might,” the country aims to do so without harming relations with the United States, a key Israeli ally.

The Prime Minister noted that, although the “political directive” of Israel is to “fight against the agreement with all [our] might,” the country aims to do so without harming relations with the United States, a key Israeli ally.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz is currently in Washington to meet with officials, in what Lapid called “a concerted effort to make sure that the Americans and the Europeans understand the dangers involved in the agreement.”

“The IDF and the Mossad received an instruction from us to prepare themselves for any scenario,” Lapid concluded. “We will be ready to act to maintain Israel’s security. The Americans understand this, the world understands this, Israeli society should also know this.”