Iran nuclear deal 'makes war more likely', says Netanyahu

NEW YORK

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday lambasted UN member states for defending a nuclear agreement with Iran, calling it a deal that "makes war more likely".

In a lengthy speech before the General Assembly, Netanyahu said the deal reached in Vienna in July would not "turn this rapacious tiger into a kitten", referring to Iran.

"Unleashed and un-muzzled, Iran will go on the prowl, devouring more and more prey", he said.

Despite intense lobbying from Israel against it, world powers and Iran agreed to provide Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for unprecedented access to, and curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

"This deal doesn't make peace more likely. By fueling Iran’s aggressions with billions of dollars in sanctions relief, it makes war more likely", Netanyahu said.

He accused Iran, together with Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah, of setting up terror cells around the world since the signing of the deal.

"I have long said that the greatest danger facing our world is the coupling of militant Islam with nuclear weapons," he said. "And I’m gravely concerned that the nuclear deal with Iran will prove to be the marriage certificate of that unholy union."

On relations with Palestinians, Netanyahu said he was prepared to immediately resume direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority without preconditions.

"President [Mahmoud] Abbas, I know it's not easy. I know it's hard. But we owe it to our peoples to try, to continue to try", he said. "If we actually sit down and try to resolve this conflict between us, recognize each other, not use a Palestinian state as a stepping stone for another Islamist dictatorship in the Middle East, but something that will live at peace next to the Jewish state, if we actually do that, we can do remarkable things for our peoples."

In his address to the UN on Wednesday, Abbas said Palestinians are no longer bound by the peace agreements known as the Oslo accords because Israel is not committing to their terms.

The 1993 agreement laid the basis of co-operation between Israelis and Palestinians with the ultimate goal of reaching a two-state solution.

The UN-proposed solution envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders, alongside Israel.