Iran nuclear deal was ‘recipe for disaster’, says Netanyahu after Trump pulls US out of agreement

'President Trump made an historic move', says Israeli leader

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown his support behind Donald Trump after he pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Mr Netanyahu, who has been a leading critic of the deal between the West and Iran, had earlier said it must be “fixed or nixed”.

Speaking moments after Mr Trump had finished his address in Washington, the Israeli leader said the current deal was “a recipe for disaster, a disaster for our region, a disaster for the peace of the world.”

He said: “Israel has opposed the nuclear deal from the start because we said that rather than blocking Iran’s path to a bomb, the deal actually paves Iran’s path to an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs, and this within a few years’ time.

“The removal of sanctions under the current deal has already produced disastrous results. The deal didn’t push war further away. It actually brought it closer. The deal didn’t reduce Iran’s aggression. It dramatically increased it.”

Last week, Mr Netanyahu delivered a presentation in front of the media to unveil what he described as a “half tonne” of Iranian nuclear documents he said had been seized by Israeli intelligence forces.

Though he stopped short of accusing Iran of violating the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, he said the documents proved Iran had previously tried to develop a nuclear bomb before 2003, that the country had lied in the past, and therefore couldn’t be trusted.

Iran has denied ever having tried to build nuclear weapons.

“Israel thinks that President Trump made an historic move, and this is why Israel thanks President Trump for his courageous leadership, his commitment to confront the terrorist regime in Tehran, and his commitment to ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons – not today, not in a decade, not ever," Mr Netanyahu said in a brief televised address.

However, his views were not echoed by his European counterparts. Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron said was a matter of "regret and concern".

They added: “We urge all sides to remain committed to the Iran nuclear deal's full implementation and to act in a spirit of responsibility."