Netanyahu to persuade US Congress to reject Iranian nuclear deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to travel to Washington in September to incite Congressmen against the Iranian nuclear deal which was announced today, Israeli media reported.

Earlier today it was announced that world powers had reached a deal on limiting Iranian nuclear activity in return for lifting the international economic sanctions on the oil rich state.

During a Likud meeting in the Knesset, Netanyahu said: “Without Israeli efforts, Iran would have been a nuclear power a long time ago. We prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and promised not to allow it becoming a nuclear power.”

Regarding his electoral pledges about Iran, he said: “We did not promise not to undermine a deal with Iran… but promised to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. We are still committed to this pledge.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the deal with Iran is full of “holes” as it does not stipulate the closure of any of the Iranian reactors.

Republicans in America oppose the deal with Iran. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said forging a deal with Iran would be difficult. “If it was done, it would be difficult to be approved by Congress,” he said.

He added that if it was approved, the Congress would be stripped of powers enabling it to lift sanctions on Iran.