May reiterates support for nuclear deal ahead of meeting with Netanyahu
A spokesman for the British prime minister says she plans to discuss how best to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon in her talks with the Israeli premier.
"You can expect the PM to raise Iran, and how best we can prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon. The UK, like France and Germany, continues to believe the Iran nuclear deal is the best way to prevent this," he told reporters.
On Tuesday evening in Paris, Netanyahu said “now is the time to apply maximum pressure on Iran” to make sure that it never acquires a nuclear weapon, but insisted that Israel never tried to convince France to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.
Flanked by French President Emmanuel Macron in a joint press conference, the Israeli premier began by extolling the values shared by their respective countries, before turning his focus to the threats posed by Iran.
“I want to make it clear that I did not ask President Macron to leave the deal. I think that economic realities are going to decide this matter so it’s not what we focused on, actually,” Netanyahu said. “What we focused on, and what I focused on was to stop Iranian aggression in the region.”
Netanyahu also claimed that the content of the Iranian nuclear deal, present or future, is less of a concern for him than preventing Tehran from building the bomb.
“My interest is not this or that agreement. My interest is to make sure that Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons,” the prime minister said when the floor was opened for questions.
“I didn’t ask France to withdraw from the JCPOA (The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran deal) because I think it is bascially going to be dissolved by the wave of economic forces,” he reiterated in response to a question from a journalist.
“We’re doing everything we can to prevent the aggressive designs of Iran which will ultimately destabilize not only the Middle East in their effort to conquer the Middle East but destabilize Europe and the world,” Netanyahu said while reminding the French president of terror attacks that have struck France and claimed 250 lives.
Iran, the prime minister insisted, was not only bent on developing nuclear weapons, but also moving other weapons to Syria from which to target Israel, a situation he said "we cannot accept."
“I want to say that this position is common right now across the Middle East, not only for us Israelis but also many of the Arab countries there who are themselves threatened by Iranian aggression.”
Netanyahu started his European trip in Berlin on Monday in an effort to rally support from allies against Iran.
Alexander J. Apfel and Associated Press contributed to this report.
