Israel denounces Iranian nuclear deal as "historic mistake"
Reuters
* Netanyahu says Israel not bound by Geneva deal
* World a more dangerous place after Geneva accord, he says
* Repeats veiled threat of Israeli military action (Adds Israeli cabinet ministers, analyst, edits throughout)
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday denounced the big powers' nuclear deal with Iran as a historic mistake that left the production of atomic weapons within Tehran's reach, and he said Israel would not be bound by it.
Having lost its battle against easing sanctions on Iran, Israel appeared to be charting a new strategy: intense scrutiny by its intelligence services of Iran's compliance with the interim agreement and lobbying for stronger terms in a final accord world powers and the Islamic Republic will pursue.
The success of international diplomacy in re-engaging with Iran, after a protracted, volatile standoff, and concluding an accord in marathon talks in Geneva marked a stinging setback for Netanyahu. His military options in confronting Iran now seemed more limited and likely to risk Israel's isolation.
A grim-faced Netanyahu - deep in a rift with Israel's main ally, the United States, over a deal that did not meet his demands to strip Iran of its nuclear enrichment capabilities - said his government would not be bound by the accord.
"What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake," Netanyahu said in a statement he delivered in English after meeting his cabinet.
"Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world took a significant step towards obtaining the world's most dangerous weapon."
The United States said the agreement would arrest Iran's most sensitive nuclear work, including the construction of the Arak research reactor, which is of special concern for the West as it could produce plutonium for bombs.
The deal would neutralise Iran's stockpile of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent - a close step away from the level needed for weapons - and provided for intrusive U.N. nuclear inspections, a senior U.S. official said.
Iran, which says it is pursuing its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes only, also promised to stop uranium enrichment above a low fissile purity of 5 percent, a U.S. fact sheet said. {ID:nL2N0J907M]
Netanyahu said those terms left Iran with little incentive down the line to dismantle its uranium-enriching centrifuges and plutonium reactor.
"Sanctions that took years to put in place are going to be eased. Iran is going to receive billions of dollars' worth of sanctions relief," he said. "So the pressures on Iran are being lifted, they are being eased, and with the lifting of this pressure, this first step could very well be the last step."
MILITARY OPTION
Netanyahu repeated his long-standing threat of possible military action against Iran - even as a member of his security cabinet acknowledged the interim accord restricted that option.
"The regime in Iran is committed to destroying Israel. And Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself from any threat," Netanyahu said. "I would like to make clear, as the prime minister of Israel: Israel will not allow Iran to develop a military nuclear capability."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected by a landslide in June, has called for "constructive interaction" with the world and avoided the belligerently anti-Israel rhetoric of hardline predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But Iran's clerical supreme leader, Ayabollah Ali Khamenei, referred to Israel as a "rabid dog" in a speech on Wednesday.
Civil Defence Minister Gilad Erdan, a security cabinet member, said the nuclear deal "makes it much more difficult, in the diplomatic sphere, to talk about a military option".
Israel's coming steps, Erdan said on Army Radio, would be to continue monitoring events in Iran along with an attempt to coordinate future moves with the United States and the other five powers that sealed Sunday's deal.
Security sources said Netanyahu has urged Israel's intelligence organs to spare no expense in crafting assessments of the situation in Iran and weighing Israel's options.
"We have six months now, and there are significant improvements that can be made in these six months," Erdan said, looking ahead to a final agreement.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, speaking on Israeli television, said Israel "may have lost the battle over the interim agreement (but) we have not lost the war over denying Iran a military nuclear capability."
Uzi Rabi, head of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, said Israel's immediate options were unlikely to include a military attack.
Instead, he said, "Israel should focus on a concerted intelligence effort" to expose any violations of the deal.
In the run-up to the interim agreement, Israel took its concerns to the U.S. Congress, where support for the Jewish state and increased U.S. sanctions has long been strong.
Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, who was in Washington last week, met U.S. legislators and said he warned them of an arms race by Sunni Muslim Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, if Shi'ite Muslim Iran did not dismantle enrichment.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said President Barack Obama would discuss Israel's misgivings with Netanyahu on Sunday.
"I would say that what we have now is a six-month period to test whether the new leadership in Iran continues to follow through their commitment to move Iran on a new path," the official said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman played down disagreements with Washington, Israel's main arms supplier and supporter, over the Iranian issue. Asked on Israel Radio if he felt betrayed by Israel's most important ally, he said: "Heaven forbid."
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
