Netanyahu Says Iran Deal 'Puts Us All In Danger'

ByJUSTIN FISHEL ABCNews logo
Thursday, July 16, 2015

President Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran puts both the U.S. and Israel in danger, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News a day after the deal was finalized.

"I think this puts all of us in danger: Israel, our Arab neighbors, the Middle East as a whole," Netanyahu told ABC's David Muir, positing that Iranian ballistic missiles could threaten the United States.

"I wish there was a better deal, I would have supported it," Netanyahu said.

The historic nuclear accord reached Tuesday gives Iran major economic sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling most of its nuclear program, ensuring it would not be able to build a bomb for at least one year over the course of 10 years time.

Most sanctions will be lifted as soon as Iran can prove it has complied with the terms of the deal, which will immediately free up over $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets. The deal also lifts the conventional weapons embargo on Iran after five years and the ballistic missile embargo after 8 years, allowing Iran to eventually trade these weapons on the international market.

"I think to give Iran these capabilities is a grave mistake," Netanyahu said.

Critics of the deal believe one of the largest American concessions is the terms agreed upon for inspecting Iran's military sites. International inspectors can request to enter Iranian military bases, but they need permission from a joint commission -- a process that could take up to 24 days.

"Imagine giving a drug dealer 24 days before you inspect the meth lab he has," Nentanyahu said. "That, as I say, is a lot of time to flush a lot of meth down the toilet."

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