Netanyahu warns that nuclear deal 'paves Iran's path' to a bomb

WASHINGTON - In a rousing speech before Congress punctuated by more than 40 bursts of applause, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assailed the Obama administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran, bluntly telling the United States that "this is a bad deal."

Though he said he was "grateful" for all President Obama has done for Israel, Netanyahu went on to excoriate the administration for failing to insist on terms tough enough or enduring enough to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

"It doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb; it paves Iran's path to the bomb," Netanyahu said Tuesday.

The speech before a joint meeting of Congress gave the Israeli prime minister a rare platform for confronting a president with whom he has shared mostly animosity and for trying to stop or radically alter negotiations that are reaching a critical juncture. Obama has said that if Iran does not agree to the outline of an agreement by the end of March then further talks would be pointless.

Netanyahu made the most of the opportunity, invoking the Constitution, Moses, and the Holocaust to argue that the United States and Israel should stand fast to block Iran from gaining weapons. He hailed Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who was in the gallery, and said, "I wish I could promise you, Elie, that the lessons of history have been learned."

Aware of the danger that Congress would be persuaded to try to scuttle a deal with Iran, the White House quickly responded to Netanyahu.

Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Obama said that Netanyahu didn't offer any "viable alternatives" to the nuclear negotiations with Iran. Obama, who had been on a conference call discussing Ukraine with European leaders during Netanyahu's speech, said that he read a transcript and that "there was nothing new" in it.

"We are pursuing a deal that verifiably prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," said a senior administration official. "Where is the better alternative? Simply demanding that Iran completely capitulate is not a plan, nor would any country support us in that position. The prime minister offered no concrete action plan."

The official added that "the logic of the prime minister's speech is regime change, not a nuclear speech."

Netanyahu's speech marked the climax of controversy that began six weeks ago when he accepted an invitation from House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio) to address Congress; Boehner sidestepped the usual protocol of consulting with the president and Democrats in Congress before issuing the invitation the day after Obama's State of the Union address. Accusations that the plan was hatched to serve partisan purposes in the United States as well as in Israel, where voters go to the polls in two weeks, laid bare fissures between the prime minister and the Obama administration.

Netanyahu used his address to paint Iran as a sponsor of terrorism that is aggressively marching across the Middle East and determined to realize its nuclear ambitions. Netanyahu said the country posed a "grave threat" to Israel and the world.

"This is a bad deal. A very bad deal. We are better off without it," he said. "Why should Iran's radical regime change for the better when it can enjoy the best of both worlds? Aggression abroad, prosperity at home?"

Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were talking in Geneva on Tuesday ahead of a March 24 deadline on the framework for a nuclear deal. But Netanyahu said that demands should be tougher and that "if Iran threatens to walk away from the table, call their bluff." He said tough economic sanctions would bring it back to talks.

Leaks and a Reuters interview with Obama on Monday have provided some general outlines of the agreement being negotiated by the United States and five other world powers including Russia and China. As a condition for the talks, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of highly enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.

The terms being negotiated would require inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, limits on the type and number of centrifuges that could be used for enrichment, full replies to IAEA questions about past activities including military activities, and continuing to turn uranium into rods used for civilian nuclear power or send the material to Russia. The goal is to establish at least one year of "breakout time," the time Iran would need to develop a weapon if cooperation broke down.

Some of those terms are highly technical; new centrifuges would be four to five times more efficient than older ones Iran possesses. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a physicist and former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has joined the talks.

The United States initially asked Iran to agree to terms that would last 15 to 20 years, while Iran asked for a five- to 10-year period. Obama said Monday the duration would have to be "double digit." After that period, say people familiar with the deal, Iran would still have to comply with IAEA guidelines and allow unfettered inspections by the agency. But limits on centrifuges could end.

"It's not as though they are free to develop nuclear weapons," said Robert Einhorn, an arms-control export at the Brookings Institution who previously advised the State Department under Obama. "There is still intrusive verification under additional protocols of the IAEA so we would be in a better position than today to detect movement toward nuclear weapons, and there would still be the option of military action. It's not as though it's a free pass to nuclear weapons after expiration."

But Netanyahu said a deal would only "whet Iran's appetite" for more nuclear material. Playing off the title of an Ernest Hemingway novel, he said: "This deal won't be a farewell to arms. It would be a farewell to arms control."

The prime minister also spoke of the Jewish holiday Purim, which begins Wednesday night. It celebrates the Jewish Book of Esther, which describes a plot by a high-ranking member of the Persian empire to kill the Jews; the plot is foiled by Queen Esther, who is Jewish.

"Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us," Netanyahu said.

He warned against viewing Shiite Iran as an ally against Sunni extremists in the Islamic State, declaring that "the enemy of your enemy is your enemy."

He cited threats by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to "annihilate" Israel and the implication of Iran - and its "tentacles of terror" - in various attacks around the world. He said nuclear talks should require a change in behavior. "If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country," he said.

WASHINGTON - Philadelphia-area lawmakers gave a generally warm reception to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress Tuesday, though some Democrats were angered by the circumstances around it.

Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.) said he entered skeptical about international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, and found his view reinforced.

"I'm deeply concerned with what I'm hearing," said Boyle, a freshman member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As it has been outlined, "I would find that sort of a deal unacceptable."

Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.) said he "always felt that it was appropriate to engage in negotiations, to test [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani, but it's clear that his actions will never match his rhetoric."

He added: "No deal is better than a bad deal. Looks like we're simply going to have to ratchet up the sanctions."

But some Democrats objected to Netanyahu's arriving at the invitation of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio), and without consultation with the White House - a breach of long-standing protocol.

Democratic critics said that partisan politics should be left out of foreign affairs, and saw the speech as an effort to use a U.S. ally to bash Obama.

More than 50 Democrats were reported to have skipped the speech, many of them either Jewish or African American. Among them was Rep. Chaka Fattah, of Philadelphia.

Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) attended, but said that reactions should wait until a deal is final and that "American support of Israel should never be made into a partisan issue."

"I have a lot of criticism for how [Boehner] handled this," Booker said. "Not the president was disrespected - the office of the presidency was disrespected."

Other Democrats praised Netanyahu's opening, in which he lauded Obama for aiding Israel and said both parties have supported his country.

"He addressed it head-on," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), a vocal Israel supporter and one of the lawmakers who escorted Netanyahu into the House chamber.

Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Iran talks began with a framework "that wasn't in our best interests" because it largely accepts Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

"What we're getting is an alarm system," he said. "Well, that's a high price to pay for the risk."

Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) was critical of Obama after the speech, and called for further sanctions on Iran. "I have long said the Obama administration has been much too weak on Iran," he said.

Speech draws praise from Republicans. Some Democrats seethe. A11, A12.

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U.S., Iranian negotiators press ahead. A14.

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jtamari@phillynews.com