Netanyahu urges US to hold out for better Iran deal

Washington - The US State Department sends the agreement and supporting documentation to Congress for review.

As the US Congress received the Iran nuclear agreement on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged lawmakers to hold out for a better deal and said there was no way to compensate Israel if the agreement goes through.
"Don't make this bad deal. Hold out for better deal," Netanyahu said on ABC's "This Week" as he continued a string of US media interviews denouncing the deal reached on Tuesday between Iran and six major powers.
The State Department sent the agreement and supporting documentation to Congress for review on Sunday and said the first day of the 60-day review process will begin on Monday.
Lawmakers have 60 days to review the agreement and decide how to respond. During that period, plus 22 more days in which Obama could veto a resolution and Congress could try to override it, Obama cannot waive the congressional sanctions on Iran.
The Israeli prime minister believes that the nuclear agreement reached in Vienna to curb Iran's nuclear programme does not prevent but only puts off Iran from becoming a nuclear armed nation, and that relaxing the strict sanctions regime gives it billions of dollars to do so.
Netanyahu says the deal endangers his country, the region and the world and there was no way Israel could feel safe if it takes effect.
"Everybody talks about compensating Israel," he said on ABC. "If this deal is supposed to make Israel and our Arab neighbours safer why should we be compensated with anything?"
President Barack Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal. Overriding the veto will require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama's fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition.
In taped appearances on five news shows on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz defended the agreement they spent years negotiating as the best hope for peace as well as a verifiable way of making sure Iran does not obtain a nuclear bomb.
Kerry said on CNN's "State of the Union" that if the United States pulls out of the deal there would be no inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities and no ability for the United States to negotiate.
"The real fear of that region should be that you don't have the deal," he said.
Reuters

• MENA