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Netanyahu: 'I'm Not Trying To Kill Any Deal' With Iran
A photo released by Government Press Office shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he delivers a statement on April 3 "strongly opposing" the framework deal. Kobi Gideon/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Kobi Gideon/AP
A photo released by Government Press Office shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he delivers a statement on April 3 "strongly opposing" the framework deal.
Kobi Gideon/AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. to seek a better agreement with Iran over its nuclear weapons program, insisting that he's not trying to kill any deal, just "a bad deal."
Netanyahu, speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, argued that the current plan "leaves the preeminent terrorist state of our time with a vast nuclear infrastructure."
He lamented that "not one centrifuge is destroyed" under the agreement.
Netanyahu also warned that lifting sanctions on Tehran could "spark an arms race among the Sunni states, a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."
His appearances on Sunday news shows come after last week's framework agreement between Tehran and six world powers, including the U.S., that would limit Iran's ability to enrich uranium, convert an enrichment facility into a research center and allow inspections to ensure compliance.
On CNN's State of the Union, the Israeli leader said he's spoken to nearly two-thirds of House and Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the issue.
"This is not a partisan issue. This is not solely an Israeli issue," Netanyahu said on CNN. "This is a world issue because everyone is going to be threatened by the pre-eminent terrorist state of our time, keeping the infrastructure to produce not one nuclear bomb but many, many nuclear bombs down the line."
He did not, however, reiterate remarks made last week that any final agreement must include a "clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel's right to exist."
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on CBS' Face The Nation, said: "Is there a better deal to be had? I think so."
However, California Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein, on CNN, said she wished that Netanyahu "would contain himself."
"I don't think it's helpful for Israel to come out and oppose this one opportunity to change a major dynamic, which is downhill, a downhill dynamic in this part of the world," she said.
Israelis targeted UN peacekeepers in Lebanon: Spanish report
MADRID: A confidential Spanish military report on the death of a Spanish U.N. peacekeeper in Israeli shelling in Lebanon said he was manning a post that appeared to have been targeted, a newspaper reported Sunday.
El Pais cited extracts from the report which drew on testimony from soldiers following the January 28 incident when the Israeli military shelled border areas following a Hezbollah attack that left two Israeli soldiers dead.
Corporal Ivan Lopez Sanchez, who was stationed nearby, told investigators that the U.N. position was clearly targeted.
"Every time, they corrected the trajectory from Majidiye to the 4-28" post, where the UNIFIL peacekeepers were stationed, he said.
Spain and Israel have agreed to carry out a joint probe into the death of 36-year-old corporal Javier Soria Toledo.
Another Spanish soldier, Sergeant Julio Xavier Garcia, echoed Sanchez, saying the shells initially fell about 500 meters north of the U.N. post and then they "corrected the trajectory towards the position."
A third soldier said fragmentation bombs were used in the attack and that the shelling finally appeared to target the main watch tower.
El Pais quoted a U.N. report which said that Israel had warned the U.N. peacekeepers at 11:40 a.m. not to venture out, without giving any explanation.
Between 11:48 a.m. and 1:43 p.m., nearly 120 artillery shells, 90 mortar grenades and five projectiles were fired in the area, El Pais quoted the report as saying.
The 10,000-strong United Nations Interim Force Lebanon (UNIFIL) includes some 600 Spanish soldiers and troops from 35 other nations.
Stranded truck drivers cross into Lebanon
BEIRUT: A number of Lebanese truck drivers crossed into Lebanon Sunday after being stranded on the Syrian-Jordanian border for four days, the head of Lebanon’s Truck Union told The Daily Star.
Naim Sawaya said that six truck drivers entered Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing after being stranded in a no man’s land between the Syrian Nasib crossing and Jordan’s Jaber crossing.
Sawaya said that authorities have “lost contact” with two truck drivers while several others are set to make their way in to Lebanon within the next two days.
Ahmad Alam, the mayor of Seer al-Dinnieh and owner of eight of the trucks that were prevented from crossing the border, confirmed that six truck drivers have entered Lebanon and confirmed that authorities have lost contact with two truck drivers whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Syrian rebels took control of the major southern crossing Wednesday night, a day after Jordanian authorities had announced the shutting of the borders.
Not mentioning that the area fell into the hands of the rebels, the Syrian government announced through its media agency SANA Thursday that the Nasib crossing was now closed and that any attempt to cross the borders would be considered “illegal trespassing.”
Dozens of truckers were stuck as a result between the two borders, and gunmen took the opportunity to loot the trucks as well as the transit area.
Omar al-Ali, head of the Lebanese refrigerated truck union, was cited by AFP as saying that between 30 and 35 Lebanese drivers and their trucks and refrigerated vehicles had been trapped in the border’s free zone.
Suspected Nusra Front militants were reportedly holding several Lebanese truck drivers hostage at a major border crossing with Jordan.
Media outlets Saturday posted a video allegedly showing a member of the Free Syrian Army with the Lebanese truckers, who said that they were “free from the abduction of [Syrian] regime forces.”
Contradicting statements have thrown the fate of Lebanese truck drivers on the Syrian-Jordanian border into confusion, with the number of drivers still being held in dispute.
Saudi Arabia seeking a 'media slave market': Hezbollah
BEIRUT: Hezbollah Sunday accused Saudi Arabia of running a "media slave market" and attempting to threaten freedom of press in Lebanon after the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon said that the Al-Akhbar newspaper belonged to the "Iran-Hezbollah-Syria axis."
Saudi Arabia, who dominates Arabic media outlets, is attempting to threaten and insult “the Lebanese free voice,” Hezbollah MP Nawaf al-Moussawi said Sunday.
“It is threating it with prosecution, closure or elimination,” he added, after Ambassador Ali Awad Asiri accused the Al-Akhbar newspaper of spreading lies and rumors about Saudi Arabia and hinted that Riyadh might sue in response.
Moussawi distinguished Al-Akhbar, which he described as an “honorable free media outlet,” from other media outlets that “scavenge” for funds from the Saudi Arabian treasury.
“Al-Akhbar is a voice that represents free people and not a...media slave market purchased with oil money,” he added.
The Hezbollah MP said it was unacceptable for the kingdom’s ambassador to “insult” any Lebanese newspaper and added that Asiri was overstepping his boundaries.
He called on the Saudi envoy to apologize to the Lebanese people and revoke his threats, while also urging citizens to commit to their “deep seated tradition of freedom.”
Al-Akhbar has been one of the most prominent voices against the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen launched last week.
Moussawi’s comments serve as the second response made by Hezbollah over the ambassador's comments.
In a statement issued by the party's media office Saturday, spokesperson Mohammad Afif accused Asiri of endangering the lives of the newspaper staff.
"[Asiri's remarks] represent a blatant and direct threat to the newspaper and the life and safety of its employees, a direct assault on the dignity and freedom of the press in Lebanon, as well as a gross interference ... in Lebanese internal affairs," Afif said.
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