US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will arrive next week to reassure Israel that the Iran nuclear deal will not end US-Israeli bilateral cooperation to counter Iran’s terror activities.
PM Netanyahu gives a press statement on the Iranian nuclear agreement. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will visit Israel next week in an attempt to reassure its leaders over the Iran nuclear deal, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as an “historic mistake.” Israel is concerned that the deal will give Iran even more funds to support terrorism around the globe, while failing to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
According to a White House press release, “The visit offers a further opportunity to continue our close consultation on security issues with Israeli counterparts as we remain vigilant in countering the Iranian regime’s destabilizing activities in the region.”
“The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday,” Netanyahu said in a statement on the nuclear agreement with Iran. “In the coming decade, the deal will reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran, with hundreds of billions of dollars. This cash bonanza will fuel Iran’s terrorism worldwide, its aggression in the region and its efforts to destroy Israel, which are ongoing.”
The Prime Minister vowed that Israel will continue to combat Iranian terror in the region. “Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction. We will always defend ourselves,” he concluded.
President Obama. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
US President Barack Obama called Netanyahu in order to reassure Israel on the Iranian nuclear deal. The President argued that “The [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] JCPOA will remove the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran, an outcome in the national security interest of the United States and Israel,” according to a White House press release on the conversation. “The President told the Prime Minister that today’s agreement on the nuclear issue will not diminish our concerns regarding Iran’s support for terrorism and threats toward Israel.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized to the president that Iran will obtain nuclear weapons regardless of whether or not it abides by the terms of the deal. Netanyahu also said that the nuclear deal threatens the security of the state of Israel.
Neither the US nor Israel have publicly commented in the wake of the agreement on rumors that the US would compensate Israel for the Iran nuclear deal by providing greater and more advanced arms. However, an anonymous official told i24news that, “There won’t be any formal conversation about compensation at this point, because that means we have come to terms with the deal, and we haven’t.”
By: Sara Abramowicz, United with Israel