Netanyahu warns Iran could 'take the entire world hostage' if West approves new nuke deal
Letting Iran acquire nukes would be 'the kowtowing of the democratic world', ex-PM says.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In an interview airing Sunday on "Life, Liberty & Levin", former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned against the U.S. potentially empowering the terrorist-supporting regime in Tehran by going ahead with approving a new nuclear deal.
Netanyahu told host Mark Levin that when the regime currently led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi is armed with nuclear weapons, they can threaten anyone they want while also having the boosted defense capabilities that nukes provide:
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. REUTERS/Debbie Hill/Pool/File Photo (REUTERS/Debbie Hill)
"First of all, they can take the entire world hostage," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Once you have a predatory, and especially in a rogue theocratic regime like this, have nuclear weapons, they can use them in two ways: One, they can threaten you directly with atomic bombs. Secondly, they have a nuclear umbrella, which is … to threaten you with conventional weapons like regular missiles or terrorists or anything else."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a weekly cabinet meeting . (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Netanyahu said Iran would then also be different than other nuclear powers like Russia because of the dangers they pose to so many other nations like Israel and the Arab states, as well as European allies of both Jerusalem and Washington.
"I think it changes history. And that's why I took the unusual step of coming to the Congress, speaking there -- something that was not easy to do," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Netanyahu addressed Congress in 2015 about the threat that is Iran.
"I think it's important to prevent Iran from having those means," he told Levin.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Iran's new President Ebrahim Raisi waves to participants at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
"And by the way, if you want to understand how bad this deal is, it not only gives Iran the freedom with an international legitimacy to enrich uranium and an unlimited quantity with much more sophisticated centrifuges in just a few years, it also gives them money an enormous amount of money to boot."
Netanyahu blasted the Biden administration for potentially lifting sanctions on "terrorists" in the Iranian government, particularly citing the fact Iran appeared to target a U.S. consulate in Irbil, Iraq with a missile that struck nearby.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Those people who are firing these missiles, those people who have murdered Americans left and right, those people who are responsible for more terrorism around the world than anyone else – those people are going to be lifted off sanctions. That's what the Iranians are demanding," he said.
"So this is absurd. This is the kowtowing of the democratic world -- unfortunately, of the rest of the world -- to this rogue regime, giving it both the weapons of mass death, an enormous pile of cash to boot… It just doesn't make sense."