A senior policy adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani predicted on Sunday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress will “benefit” Tehran, i24news reported.
The official, Hamid Aboutalebi, reportedly wrote on his Twitter account that what he described as Netanyahu’s “warrior discourse” will strengthen the “gaps” between Democrats and Republicans, as well as those between Washington and Israel.
Aboutalebi claimed that Netanyahu’s visit to the United States will deepen the rift between European nations and Washington in addition to causing divisions within Israeli society between peace advocates and backers of a military intervention in Iran.
The comments come a day after Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also reacted to Netanyahu’s speech and said that Netanyahu’s “scaremongering” won’t stop the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 world powers from reaching a nuclear deal.
“Through scaremongering, falsification, propaganda and creating a false atmosphere even inside other countries, [Israel] is attempting to prevent peace,” Zarif said. “I believe that these attempts are in vain and should not impede reaching a [nuclear] agreement,” he said, in reference to Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress Tuesday.
“Netanyahu is opposed to any solution and [his planned speech to Congress] signifies his attempts to use an untrue issue and a fabricated crisis to cover up realities in our region, including the occupation [and] suppression of the Palestinian people, violation of rights of Palestinians and continuation of invasive policies,” Zarif added.
The speech has raised tensions between Israel and the United States, as the White House announced that neither President Barack Obama nor Secretary of State John Kerry would meet with Netanyahu while he is in Washington, citing the proximity of his visit to the elections in Israel.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has indicated that Kerry will “probably be out of town” during Netanyahu’s speech, and Vice President Joe Biden has also announced that he will be travelling abroad and would not be attending the speech.
