Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday urged Western powers not to ease their pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme, just to gain Tehran’s assistance in fighting the Islamic State.
“I know for certain what (late Israeli prime minister) Menachem Begin would say about something I have been hearing more and more about in recent days from esteemed commentators in the West,” Netanyahu said at a memorial centre in Jerusalem for the 1977-1983 premier.
“They are saying that the major powers need to go easy on Iran’s nuclear programme so that Iran will fight ISIS.
“They (Iran’s Revolutionary Guards) are fighting ISIS for their own interests. They are fighting over who will be the ruler of the Islamist world … It is as if (Syrian President Bashar al-)Assad would say ‘Go easy on my chemical weapons. Give me back my chemical weapons so that I can fight ISIS.’ Both are absurd,” Netanyahu said, using an ancronym for the Islamic State.
“Menachem Begin would reject this outright and so do I. Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold state.”
GNA
