Netanyahu to address country with 'dramatic news about Iran' Monday night

Israeli media reports indicate Netanyahu will address the Iran nuclear deal and not the overnight strike in Syria.

By REUTERS, TAMAR BEN-OZER
Updated: APRIL 30, 2018 20:53
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, April 3, 2015 (photo credit: KOBY GIDEON/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, April 3, 2015
(photo credit: KOBY GIDEON/GPO)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a televised announcement Monday evening in what his office said would disclose "dramatic news" regarding the nuclear agreement with Iran.
WATCH HIS FULL SPEECH
In a corresponding move, Netanyahu cancelled a scheduled speech at the Knesset in honor of Theodore Herzl day. Channel 10 reports Meir Ben Shabbat, head of the National Security Council, will hold phone calls with colleagues in the UK and France to update them about developments with the Iranian nuclear program.
The announcement will be made from Israel's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to a brief statement from Netanyahu's office.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a statement on a significant development regarding the nuclear agreement with Iran," the statement said, offering no further details. Israeli media reports indicate Netanyahu will address the Iran nuclear deal and not the overnight strike in Syria.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif disparaged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "the boy who can't stop crying wolf" in a Twitter post Monday, ahead of the Israeli leader's speech announcing "signficicant" developments in the Iran nuclear deal.

"BREAKING: The boy who can't stop crying wolf is at it again. Undeterred by cartoon fiasco at UNGA. You can only fool some of the people so many times," Zarif wrote on Twitter, alongside a picture of Netanyahu holding a drawing a cartoon bomb, a prop he brought to the 2012 UN General Assembly.
Netanyahu met on Sunday with new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the two had spoken about Iran.
Speaking alongside the Israeli leader, Pompeo said: “We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats towards Israel and the region.”
Netanyahu had said: “I think the greatest threat to the world and to our two countries, and to all countries, is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons, and specifically the attempt of Iran to acquire nuclear weapons."
US President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from the 2015 agreement reached between Iran and global powers, which granted Tehran relief from economic sanctions in return for curbs to its nuclear program.
Israel has long opposed the agreement. Washington's major European allies have urged the Trump administration not to abandon it and argue that Iran is abiding by its terms.
Minister of Energy Yuval Steineitz said the announcement would be "interesting and impactful."
JPost.com staff contributed to this report.