Netanyahu lashes out at UNSC for endorsing Iran n-deal

Jerusalem, July 20
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday lashed out at the UN Security Council's unanimous endorsement of the nuclear agreement with Iran.

"The UN Security Council is giving its approval to that same country, which has systematically violated the Security Council's decisions and which calls for the destruction of Israel, a member of the UN," Xinhua quoted Netanyahu as telling a meeting of his Likud party in Jerusalem, briefly before the vote was held.

On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed the newly-reached agreement, kicking off a process to lift UN sanctions on Iran.

Netanyahu also blamed the agreement for bringing war closer.

"They say that this agreement makes war more distant. This is not true; this agreement brings war closer."

He also sent a message to the US Congress, calling them not to lift the sanctions on Iran.

"As long as US Congressional sanctions are in place, Iran will be compelled in the end to make concessions."

Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives and in the Senate, who formally received a copy of the deal on Sunday, will review it in the next 60 days, before they vote on whether to lift the sanctions imposed on Iran.

"I think the right thing to do is merely not to go ahead with this deal," Netanyahu told CBS News on Monday. "There are many things to be done to stop Iran's aggression and this deal is not one of them."

The hardliner prime minister, a long-time opponent of the deal, believes that lifting sanctions on Iran clears its way for acquiring nuclear weapons.

The deal reached on July 14 between Iran and the six world powers -- the US, Russia, France, Britain, China, and Germany -- puts Iran on the path of sanctions relief but imposes more strict limits on its nuclear programme.