Ya'alon: You don't have to be in intelligence to know that Iran is lying

Defense minister warns West giving Tehran "seal of approval" that will further endanger the world.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, HERB KEINON
Moshe Ya'alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit Israel Aerospace Industries‏. (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Moshe Ya'alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit Israel Aerospace Industries‏.
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Addressing talks between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran in Switzerland, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Sunday that "one does not have to be an intelligence agency member to know that Iran is lying without blinking, that today it is the biggest danger to the stability of the Middle East and the entire world."
Ya'alon added that the "Iranian appetite to export the revolution through terrorism will only get bigger, and with the seal of approval it receives as a legitimate state that is a touching distance away from being nuclear – the danger to the West and its allies in the Middle East will be enormous."
Ya'alon's comments came amid news of progress in negotiations between world powers and Iran to reach a framework deal to restrict Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Western leaders, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, were in Lausanne, Switzerland on Sunday attempting to reach a framework agreement by Tuesday's deadline which would set the outline for a comprehensive agreement by the end of June.
Israel has warned repeatedly that the agreement emerging is a "bad deal" that will allow Iran to remain a nuclear threshold state while gaining international legitimacy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that the nuclear agreement between the world powers and Iran apparently emerging from the talks in Lausanne confirm all of Israel's concerns, “and even more than that."
At the same time that the talks are taking place in Switzerland, he said, Iran's proxies in Yemen are in the process of occupying large segments of Yemen and trying to gain control of the strategic Ba'ad el-Mandeb waterway which is critical to the free flow of the world's oil.
"After the Beirut-Damascus-Baghdad axis, Iran is carrying out a pincer movement from the south to take over and occupy the entire Middle East. The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis is very dangerous to humanity and it must be stopped,” he said.
A US official told The Jerusalem Post in response that Netanyahu's position was well known and that they continue to brief the Israeli leader on the negotiations with Iran.
Michael Wilner and Jpost.com staff contributed to this report.