Israeli PM criticises breakthrough in Iran nuclear talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 countries, saying on Sunday that the reported breakthrough in negotiations is rather a "breakdown."

"It seems that the nuclear talks in Iran have yielded a collapse, not a breakthrough," Netanyahu told ministers and media outlets at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.

The Israeli prime minister, who reiterates the danger posed by a nuclear Iran to Israel, said that the P5+1 countries (China, U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Russia) are making more and more concessions as days pass ahead of a final deal on Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Netanyahu added that the deal being formulated these days is worse than the framework announced in Lausanne at the beginning of April, and that it would "pave Iran's path to the production of many atomic bombs."

He also said that the deal as it appears now would "channel to Iran hundreds of billions of dollars" with the removal of sanctions, that would enable it to support "terrorism campaigns" around the world.

Netanyahu said the apparent deal in his opinion is "worse than the deal with North Korea that led to a nuclear arsenal in the country," adding that in Israel's case, Iran poses both a conventional and non-conventional threat.

After declaring the framework agreement in Lausanne in April, delegates set off a June 30 deadline to reach a final deal that would curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for the removal of crippling economic sanctions that were imposed on the Islamic republic in the past decade.

Both sides announced in the past week that the deadline for formulating the final deal would be July 7, one-week delay in the original deadline.

Parties reached an interim agreement in November 2013, as there are still gaps on several issues including the export of enriched uranium and the question of implementing the clauses of the agreement and the supervision on Iran's nuclear facilities, among others, as well as the rate of the sanction removal.

Netanyahu stresses the dangers of a nuclear Iran and claims the P5+1 countries should "wait for a better deal" that would destroy Iran's capabilities to manufacture nuclear weapons altogether.

Last week, the Israeli prime minister condemned what he dubbed were the world nations' ongoing "concessions" to Iran as well, saying the current stance of the P5+1 countries is a "stark retreat" from the agreement announced in Lausanne.

Under the Lausanne framework agreement introduced in April, Iran is set to slash more than two-thirds of its uranium enrichment centrifuges, from which it can make fuel for a nuclear bomb, and shrink its uranium stockpile by 98 percent.

It also includes changing the designation of the Arak reactor so it would be aimed at peaceful nuclear research and would not produce plutonium, which is used for building nuclear bombs and make similar adaptation in the Fordo facility.

In return, the sanctions would be lifted in a gradual manner and on condition of compliance with the terms of the agreement, under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Whereas Iran claims its nuclear capabilities are aimed at peaceful purposes, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu contends a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat to Israel and had implied as recently as last week that if needed "Israel will know how to defend itself," implying to a possible preemptive strike by the Israeli Air Force over Iranian facilities.