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| John Kerry interviewed by Israel's Channel 10, May 3, 2015 (Channel 10 screenshot) |
In Israeli TV interview, US secretary insists emerging deal will ‘protect Israel'; PM: ‘It will endanger Israel and the world’
US Secretary of State John Kerry
sought to calm Israeli worries over an emerging nuclear deal with Iran
in an interview aired Sunday, dismissing some concerns as brought on by
“hysteria” over the possible agreement.
Speaking
to Israel’s Channel 10 television, Kerry said the deal wouldn’t affect
American options to counter any possible effort by Iran to build atomic
weapons.
He also said he did not believe Israel would
surprise the United States by attacking Iran without prior consultation
because of the “huge” potential implications.
“I say to every Israeli that today we have the
ability to stop [the Iranians] if they decided to move quickly to a
bomb, and I absolutely guarantee that in the future we will have the
ability to know what they are doing so that we can still stop them if
they decided to move to a bomb,” Kerry said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
been one of the harshest critics of the US-led framework deal with the
Islamic Republic, which offers it sanctions relief in exchange for
scaling back its contested nuclear program.
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| PM Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome on December 15, 2014 (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO / Flash90) |
