Netanyahu on Easter Sunday says Iran nuke agreement 'a bad deal'

JERUSALEM (Christian Examiner) – During an Easter Sunday interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on CNN's State of the Union that it does not have to come down to "either this bad deal or war" over the framework of a nuclear agreement negotiators for six countries reportedly have framed up with Iran.

Arguing to increase economic sanctions rather than ease them, in order to "get a better deal," he defined a better deal as one that would actually "roll back" Iran's capabilities for developing nuclear weapons and one that would force Iran to stop its aggression in the world, especially against Israel.

Representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States, plus Germany, announced on March 31 they had reached an acceptable framework agreement with Iran about its nuclear program which is feared to be aimed at producing atomic bombs under the guise of developing abundant energy.

Details released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry indicate Iran agreed to a deal that basically reduces its activity related to the enrichment of nuclear material through storing some centrifuges used in the process, repurposing some facilities for peaceful uses, and voluntarily restricting itself from producing weapons-grade plutonium.

Critics say it still allows Iran to develop a nuclear weapon within 10 years and that it relies on transparency from Iran when that country has cheated on U.N. inspections in the past.

On ABC's This Week also on April 5, Netanyahu also raised the specter of "a nuclear arms race" from Sunni nations launching nuclear programs in an effort to keep predominately Shiite Iran from being the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons.

He also said dropping the economic sanctions now will only allow Iranian leaders to use the fresh influx of money "to pump up their terror machine worldwide.

"I'm not trying to kill any deal" with Iran, Netanyahu said on NBC's Meet the Press. "I'm trying to kill a bad deal" which he argued "leaves the preeminent terrorist state of our time" with vast nuclear capabilities.