Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday even if the U.S. reaches a new agreement with Iran, Israel will still be able to strike the regime’s nuclear program.
His remarks came a day after talks in Vienna between Washington and Tehran and other world powers resumed.
“Israel won’t be a side in an agreement and will always keep its right to act and defend itself on its own,” the Jerusalem Post cited Bennett as saying.
Responding to opposition leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel would need U.S. approval before attacking Iran, Bennett said: “That is a total lie.”
Taking another dig at his predecessor, who often threatened Iran with military action, Bennett said: “I prefer to take a line of ‘say a little and do a lot.’ I don’t think we need to wake up every day and threaten left and right. It is more important to act.”
Enrique Mora, the European Union’s mediator at the Vienna talks on Monday said that the eight round of negotiations would wrap up in the next few weeks. However, so far Iran has only discussed lifting sanctions and has not indicated any willingness to curb its nuclear program.
“We want a good deal,” Bennett said. “Is this expected to happen in the current parameters? No. Iran is in the talks with very weak cards, but unfortunately, the world is acting like Iran is in a position of power.”
He went on to note protests happening in major Iranian cities like Isfahan, where the regime has failed to provide water.
“They are a rotten, very extreme regime,” he said. “They are corrupt and not standing on stable legs.”
Speaking to radio Kan, Bennett also said that Israel had built a strategy for thwarting the “ring of rockets” surrounding Israel by Iran-backed terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
He added that while Israel doesn’t always agree with the U.S. “and sometimes there are disputes,” the relationship with Washington is good.