JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel was not bound by the Iran nuclear deal and signalled he remained ready to order military action.

Netanyahu’’ harsh criticism of the agreement came after he warned for months that the deal being negotiated would not prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

While analysts say unilateral military action by Israel seems unlikely for now, Netanyahu and other officials have kept the option on the table.

“Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran, and Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction,” Netanyahu told reporters before a meeting of his security cabinet. “We will always defend ourselves.” Netanyahu called the nuclear deal a “historic mistake”, and the accord drew stro ng criticism from across the Israeli political spectrum.

“We did commit to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and this commitment still stands,” Netanyahu said earlier on Tuesday, even before the agreement was officially announced. He has taken his campaign to the US Congress and the UN General Assembly, but ultimately failed to block the agreement.

“You can’t prevent an agreement when those negotiating it are prepared to make more and more concessions to those shouting `Death to the United States’

even as the talks are in progress,” the Israeli premier said.

“Iran will get hundreds of billions of dollars with which it will be able to fuel its terror machine,” he said, referring to the expected lifting of sanctions.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon accused the six powers that negotiated the deal -- of needlessly caving in to Tehran.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2015

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