Netanyahu: Khamenei's words prove nuclear deal will not stop Iranian terror machine
Speaking at weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu says Iran is not even trying to hide the fact that it will use the hundreds of millions it gets from the deal to fund terror.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: JULY 19, 2015 13:00Netanyahu: Khamenei's words prove nuclear deal will not stop Iranian terror machine
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that those who thought signing a nuclear deal with Iran would cause the Islamic Republic to temper its extremism were proven wrong over the weekend when Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to continue opposition to the United States and its Middle East policies.Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said, "If anyone thought that excessive concessions to Iran would lead it to change its policies, they received a decisive answer this weekend with the aggressive and adversarial speech by Iran's leader Khamenei."The prime minister said that "the Iranians are not even trying to hide the fact that they will use the hundreds of millions that they will get from this deal in order to arm their terror machine, and they say outright that they will continue their fight against the United States and its allies, Israel being chief among them."In a speech at a Tehran mosque Saturday, punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," Khamenei said he wanted politicians to examine the agreement to ensure national interests were preserved, as Iran would not allow the disruption of its revolutionary principles or defensive abilities.Khamenei: Deal or no deal, Iran won"t stop opposing US, supporting people of PalestineAn arch conservative with the last word on high matters of state, Khamenei repeatedly used the phrase "whether this text is approved or not," implying the accord has yet to win definitive backing from Iran's fictionalized political establishment.Speaking of the nuclear deal, Netanyahu said that today Iran is arming terrorist organizations with missiles, but in the future they would have the ability to arm them, and themselves, with a much more dangerous weapon."The deal that was signed paves the way for Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons, perhaps in a decade, if Iran decides to honor the agreement, and much sooner if it decides to violate it, as it tends to do," Netanyahu said.Answering critics, such as US President Barack Obama, who have accused him of slamming the deal without offering a better plan of his own, Netanyahu said, "The alternative that we have suggested time after time to this failure of a deal, is a continuation of, and strengthening of the sanctions against Iran."Reuters contributed to this report.