'We won't let Iran get nuclear weapons': Israeli PM

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated his government’s insistence that Iran not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.

“This morning… I heard that Iran intends to continue its nuclear program,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu as saying on Wednesday.

He added: “We will not let Iran get nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu’s remarks come hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would resume its uranium-enrichment activities if his country’s interests -- as they pertain to a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers -- were not guaranteed within 60 days.

Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed his government's rejection of the landmark agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

The deal had called for strict curbs on Iran’s nuclear-development program in return for the lifting of longstanding U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

In his remarks to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu also hailed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the agreement.

Last year, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal before re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking sectors.