PM: Iran deal can be changed for the better

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his call on Sunday for Western powers to seek a “better” deal with Iran over the country’s nuclear program, insisted the deal could yet be improved, and sought to dispel reports of a spike in tension between Jerusalem and Washington over the issue.

“The deal can be changed,” Netanyahu insisted. “Iran is under economic pressure. Continuing and even increasing that pressure can bring about a much better deal, a peaceful diplomatic solution. I believe that view is shared by many partners in the region and beyond.”

Netanyahu has been sparring with Western leaders, especially American officials, in recent days over a deal being negotiated between Iran and the so-called P5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

The prime minister spoke to the apparent tensions at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying that “even among the best of friends there can be disagreements, certainly in fateful matters that affect our future.”

He specifically mentioned US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is expected to land in Israel Friday for further talks on Iran and peace talks with the Palestinians, as a friend and ally.

“John Kerry is an old friend of mine and a friend of Israel,” Netanyahu emphasized, but said it was “the duty of Israel’s prime minister and its government to protect its vital interests, and we will do that in the face of any agreement [with Iran] that’s a bad agreement. I hope we will be able to convince our friends this week, and in the days to follow, to insist on a much better deal.”

According to a Maariv report Sunday, Israeli officials have come to terms with the fact that a partial deal with Iran will be signed, possibly as soon as this month. However, they say two clauses favorable to Israel’s stance can be added, namely demanding that the Arak heavy water reactor be kept shut and the uranium enriched to over 20 percent be converted into fuel rods.

The Iranian issue will be the key topic in talks with French President Francois Hollande, who is visiting Israel starting Sunday with a high-level delegation of cabinet ministers.

His meetings with Hollande are part of a diplomatic blitz on Netanyahu’s part to convince Western powers to seek a stricter deal with Tehran. Netanyahu will meet with Hollande Sunday evening, fly to Moscow for meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, and meet with Kerry in Jerusalem on Friday.

Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz also warned against the developing deal on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting.

“The deal is a bad one,” he said, both “because there are no meaningful Iranian concessions” and, more importantly, because it offers “an implied recognition of Iran as a [nuclear] threshold state, a state that can build a [nuclear] bomb within one year” of deciding to do so.

Iran has been a threshold state for the past year, Steinitz added, but “until now, that fact was a criminal overstep of international decisions. Now this state [of affairs] will gain legitimacy, at least for the next six months. That’s serious, and should not have been allowed to happen.”

Legitimizing Iran’s possession of its current array of nuclear capabilities “will make it harder to achieve a satisfactory permanent agreement,” he said.