Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted with disapproval for President Biden’s $6 billion deal with Iran, warning against the advantage it will give to the rogue nation and terrorist elements. According to CBN News, Netanyahu is gravely concerned with Iran’s potential acquisition of nuclear weapons.
CBN News reports the Prime Minister’s office released a statement on Saturday in response to the deal stating that “Israel’s position is known. Arrangements that do not dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure do not stop its nuclear program and only provide it with funds that will go to terrorist elements sponsored by Iran.” The deal comes while Israel is taking every effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The deal between the Biden administration and Iran that concluded on August 10 was for the release of five prisoners from Iran’s Evin Prison for the freeing up of $6 billion in oil revenues for Iran. The Biden administration reportedly hopes that this deal will “deescalate tensions between the two countries.” The prisoners who will be exchanged are said to be under house arrest in a Tehran hotel for a period of weeks.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid agreed with Netanyahu that the deal between the U.S. and Iran was a major blow to Israel. Although Lapid blames Netanyahu for “souring relations with Washington,” he wrote on X, “now the Americans have closed a deal with the Iranians that will pour billions of dollars into the Iranian nuclear program and no one listens to the Israeli position.”
Republicans and Middle East experts also criticized the Biden administration’s deal, noting that it sends a message to Tehran that they could get more money if they take more prisoners. Mark Dubowitz, president of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned that the $6 billion “reward” is going to fund terrorism and provide funding for “drones for Russia, domestic repression, and nuclear weapons expansion.”