Netanyahu asks West not to ease pressure on Iran in fight against Islamic State

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Sunday for Western countries not to ease any pressure on Iran regarding its nuclear programme in return for Iran’s help in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

During a visit to a monument commemorating former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying: “I know just what Menachem Begin would say about the thing I am hearing more and more in recent days from respected analysts in the West,” referring to the softening of attitudes towards Iran in exchange for its cooperation against the Islamic State.

Netanyahu continued: “[Iran is] fighting [the Islamic State] for their own interests, they are fighting over who will control the Islamic world that they want to impose on the entire world.”

Calling the West’s new arrangements with Iran “absurd”, he added: “It’s like Assad saying, ‘Give me back chemical weapons, so that I will fight [the Islamic State].'”

“Menachem Begin would completely reject it and I am doing the same,” he said.