Monday, September 18, 2017

Lobbying against Iran deal, PM to ‘connect dots’ to Syria, UN envoy says

NEW YORK — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lay out a comprehensive case against Iran in his speech Tuesday at the United Nations, “connecting the dots” between the nuclear deal and Tehran’s desire to establish itself militarily on Israel’s northern border, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said Sunday.  Netanyahu will make plain that in Jerusalem’s view the Iran nuclear pact must not be left intact, Danon said.

“The issue of North Korea is concerning, but we care about the Middle East. Iran will be major part of the prime minister’s speech, regarding the nuclear agreement but also what they are doing today in the region,” Danon told The Times of Israel.

Preventing Iran’s entrenchment on the Golan Heights, via its proxy Hezbollah, as part of an agreement to end the Syrian civil war “is the most important issue for Israel today,” Danon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, said.

This issue, which is expected to take center stage during Netanyahu’s speech, is intimately connected to the question over the future of the nuclear deal six world powers struck with Iran in 2015.

“Today, the Iranians have more funds, are able to send more troops and buy more weapons, support Hezbollah. It’s all connected,” Danon said. “I think the PM, who is an expert on that, will connect the dots. He will show the whole picture of what has happened since the agreement, and what its consequences are today.”

Said Danon: “I think that today people in the world realize that once we speak about a threat [that we face], eventually it will become their own threat.”

Netanyahu, scheduled to speak at the UN a day after his third meeting with US President Donald Trump, will argue that the nuclear deal needs to be amended or scrapped altogether, Danon predicted. READ MORE