Israel's leader urged France on Tuesday to turn its attention to tackling Iran's aggression in the Middle East, saying he no longer needed to convince Paris to quit the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, as economic pressure would kill it anyway.
Benjamin Netanyahu was in Paris for talks with President Emmanuel Macron as part of a tour to persuade the European signatories to the deal – Britain, France and Germany – to follow Washington's lead in pursuing a tough stance on Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal on May 8, saying he planned to reimpose sanctions on Tehran unless it complied with a series of demands touching on its ballistic missile program, its role in Middle East wars or what happens after the deal begins to expire in 2025.
The European powers share those concerns but say that the accord, also negotiated with China and Russia, is the best way to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapons capability.
"I didn't ask France to withdraw from the JCPOA [Iran deal] because I think it is basically going to be dissolved by the weight of economic forces," Netanyahu told a joint news conference with Macron.
"If you have a bad deal you don't have to stick to it, especially if you see that Iran is conquering one country after another and you cannot divorce this from Iran's aggression in the region."
Israel maintains that Iran duped the West into a one-sided deal and plans to use the break from sanctions to build up its financial reserves before returning to full-scale enrichment of uranium for future nuclear weapons.
Last month, Israel exposed the Iranian nuclear archive, proving Tehran has planned to pursue weapons of mass destruction despite its statements to the contrary.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Monday he has ordered the Atomic Energy Organization to increase the country's nuclear enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers collapses. The increase detailed by Khamenei speech would not exceed limits set by the nuclear accord, which European countries have said they hope to salvage.
The three European powers are scrambling to save the deal as they regard it as the best chance to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon atomic bomb.
Macron did not appear receptive to Netanyahu's argument.
"I told the prime minister of my deep conviction, which is shared with our European partners, that the accord needs to be preserved to ensure control of nuclear activity," he said.
"I call on all sides to stabilize the situation and not give into escalation which will lead to one thing: conflict," Macron said, adding that the Iranian statements added to tensions, but were not in violation of the nuclear deal.
The European powers are trying to come up with a package to ring-fence trade with Iran against renewed U.S. financial sanctions to dissuade Tehran from quitting the accord.
But the global reach of the U.S. financial system, forcing companies to choose between two irreconcilable options - selling to Iran or to the vast U.S. market - is driving home the limits of European efforts to create financial mechanisms that could shield revived trade with Tehran.
That has left Europe under pressure from Tehran.
"If Iran does not get the financial guarantees in oil and access to the financial system, then I don't see Iran sticking to the deal because the pressure from [Iranian] hardliners is only increasing," said a Western official.
"It is quite possible they will resume enrichment capacity and research and development of advanced centrifuges to show the Europeans and the world that they are serious."
'Israeli intelligence prevents terrorism in France'
Also on Tuesday, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, met with the leaders of France's Jewish community.
Addressing the forum, Netanyahu noted that Israel was regularly sharing intelligence with French security forces to help them fight terrorism.
"You hear on the news that the French police prevented an attack, but do you asked yourself how they did it and who gave them the information? Israeli intelligence prevents terrible attacks, including here in France. Israel has prevented many terrorist attacks in Europe and we will continue to do so."
The prime minister noted that many in Western Europe, and especially in France, fail to realize the extent in which Israel was involved in thwarting the threat of radical Islam.
"Israel works to counter radical Islam, which poses a threat to Israel and the entire world. Israel is the bulwark against radical Islam. The world knows that may here maybe not enough," he said.
Netanyahu further commended Macron for his unrelenting fight against anti-Semitism in France.
"Anti-Semitism in Europe in general and in France in particular is something that has ancient elements but its expressions are new. This is something that we must keep fighting, as a matter of policy," he said.
