Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned a European Union response on Monday to Iran's breaches of nuclear limitations, saying it recalled failed diplomacy with Nazi Germany ahead of World War II.
"It reminds me of the European appeasement of the 1930s," Netanyahu said in a video statement after EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said none of the parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran saw its increased uranium enrichment as "significant non-compliance" of the agreement.
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Mogherini said that European countries did convene to discuss the breach but were not going to not going to take further steps that would trigger the so called "snapback" mechanism.
That mechanism, which is part of the 2015 deal, can result in international sanctions being reimposed on Tehran if a special complaint is lodged against Iran through a special commission. But the EU's decision from Monday means that such a process will not materialize, despite the initial procedural step being taken by the mere convening of the commission.
"Then, too, there were those who stuck their head in the sand and did not see the approaching danger," said Netanyahu, who has often cast Iran's nuclear projects as a mortal menace to Israel and the wider world.
"It seems there are those in Europe who will not wake up until Iranian nuclear missiles land on European soil. But then it will be too late, of course," Netanyahu said.
The United States quit the Iran nuclear deal last year, deeming it insufficient. That left Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany as parties to the deal.
"In any event, we will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons," Netanyahu continued.
