JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he told US President Donald Trump last week that any deal between the US and Iran must not only halt the enrichment process but also dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
Speaking at the annual meeting of major American Jewish organizations, Netanyahu also said Israel must “complete the mission” of destroying all tunnels in the Gaza Strip. He said Israel had already cleared 150 kilometers (93 miles) of an estimated 500 kilometers.
A second round of talks between the US and Iran is scheduled for this week. Iranian diplomats were told on Sunday that Iran is pursuing a nuclear deal with the United States that would bring economic benefits to both sides.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was skeptical of the deal but that it must include the flow of enriched goods from Iran. “There should be no enrichment capability. Rather than stopping the enrichment process, we would be dismantling the equipment and infrastructure that made enrichment possible in the first place,” he said.
Iran and the United States resumed talks earlier this month in a bid to address a decades-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program and avoid a new military conflict. The United States has sent a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the possibility of continued military operations if talks are not successful, a U.S. official told Reuters.
Netanyahu also said he aims to end U.S. military aid to Israel within the next 10 years, after the current 10-year contract that receives $3.8 billion a year (mainly spent on U.S. equipment) ends in 2028.
With economic prosperity, “we can afford to phase out the financial part of the military aid that we receive, and I propose to reduce it to zero in 10 years. Now, with the three years left in the current memorandum, we will reduce it to zero in another seven years,” Netanyahu said.
“We want to move with the United States from aid to partnership,” he said. (Reporting by Stephen Scheer; Editing by Susan Fenton)
