Israel PM says upcoming nuclear deal with Iran "bad one"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Iran has backtracked on several issues agreed upon during negotiations with the international community and reiterated his stance that an upcoming agreement is a "bad" one and should be rejected.

"Iran has announced that it will not allow surprise visits at its military installations on the nuclear issue," Netanyahu said on Sunday at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.

"It has also backtracked from other issues that were seemingly agreed upon in the framework agreement," he added.

The Israeli prime minister, a staunch hardliner when it comes to the issue of nuclear Iran, added that despite these reports of Iran's "obduracy," members of the P5+1 countries (Russia, China, Germany, France, the U.S. and Britain) continue to make "concessions" towards them.

"The agreement being formulated has looked bad from the onset and it seems to be getting worse from day to day," the Israeli prime minister reiterated his stance, adding that it's "not too late" to reject the agreement and "insist on a better one."

Netanyahu's statements mainly refer to statements made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday, who said Iran will resist efforts to compromise its nuclear and military secrets through supervision.

"Iran would never allow its secrets to be disclosed through the implementation of the Additional Protocol, not in the nuclear sector or in other areas," Rouhani said.

The Additional Protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on which 125 states, including Iran, signed, allows IAEA inspectors to visit nuclear sites with up to two hours' notice.

Rouhani said that he does not wholly object to the additional protocol, but added that nowhere in the protocol does it mention the word inspections.

On Monday, an Israeli delegation will head to Washington D.C. in order to try and influence U.S. officials with Israel's input on various clauses in the framework agreement announced by the P5+1 and Iran in April, ahead of the June 30 deadline to ink the final deal based on that framework.

An Israeli official told the Haaretz daily last week the delegation aims to discuss technical aspects of the upcoming agreement and attempt to suggest improvements.

Earlier this month, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan made a secret visit to Israel in order to calm Israel ahead of the final agreement, Israeli media outlets reported.

On the same topic, the Wall Street Journal reported last Wednesday that Israel used a computer virus in order to eavesdrop on the Iranian nuclear talks. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotoveli (Likud) denied the report, telling Army Radio the report is "baseless."

Iran and the P5+1 countries started deliberating on a deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for relaxing economic sanctions imposed on Iran for over a decade. Talks commenced in June 2013, upon the election of moderate Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.

Netanyahu continues to reiterate that Iran poses an "existential threat" to Israel, drawing attention to its alleged involvement in the activity of militant organization in the Middle East like Hamas and Hezbollah, adding that Iranian officials call for the destruction of Israel, adding that understandings reached so far would not prevent Iran from developing nuclear bombs which may be aimed at Israel. Endit