In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press”, due to air on Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says Iran's leaders are guided by "unbelievable fanaticism" and warned American policymakers that containment will not work against a nuclear Iran.
“I wouldn't rely on their rationality,” he stated.
“Since the advent of
nuclear weapons, you have countries that had access to nuclear weapons who
always made a careful calculation of cost and benefit," he said.
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"Iran
has a very different zealotry about their survival, there are suicide bombers
all over the place," Netanyahu continued.
"It’s the same fanaticism that
you see storming your embassies today,” Netanyahu added, in an apparent
reference to the wave of violent protests at American embassies in the Muslim
world. “You want these fanatics to have nuclear weapons?”
He went on to comment that if anyone thought Iran having nuclear capability
would work to stabilize the Middle East, that they would set a "new standard for
human stupidity." Netanyahu's comments come in the wake of reported friction
between the US and Israel over Iran.
US President Barack Obama told 1,200
American rabbis Friday via a conference call that he was
not willing to impose a
“set of conditions” on how he would handle Iran – according to participants on
the call.
On Friday, Iranian President Ahmadinejad also commented upon
the US-Israel relationship, stating that US decision-makers have already come to
the understanding that the Zionist regime is “no longer beneficial to
them.”
He added that the Zionists are seeking new ways to "disturb the
game," Iranian state-run Fars News Agency reported.