Iran nuke deal will create more violent Middle East: Israeli PM

Jerusalem: Israel's prime minister on Sunday criticized an emerging deal over Iran's nuclear program, saying it would be weaker than a previous agreement and would create a "more violent, more volatile Middle East."

World powers have been negotiating in Vienna in a bid to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which was left in tatters after the Trump administration, goaded by Israel, withdrew.

The original deal granted Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Israel vehemently opposed that accord and has urged negotiators to take a hard line against Iran in the current round of talks. In a speech to Jewish American leaders Sunday, 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that Iran has used interim period to march  ahead with its enrichment of uranium to levels approaching weapons grade. He also noted the 10-year limits on enrichment and



other key aspects of Iran's nuclear program in the original deal are set to be lifted in 2025 - just two and a half years from now. That "leaves Iran with a fast track to military-grade enrichment," Bennett told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations.

In the meantime, he said that lifting sanctions right away will deliver billions of dollars to Iran to spend on hostile proxy groups along Israel's borders.

"For Israel and all the stability-seeking forces in the Middle East- emerging deal as it seems is highly likely to create a more violent, more volatile Middle East," he said.

He repeated his pledge that Israel will not allow Iran to become a threshold state and said Israel would not be bound by a new deal. "We have a clear and un-negotiable red line: Israel will always maintain its freedom of action to defend itself," he said.