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Israel: Iran Deal Fails to Fully Freeze or Supervise Iran Nuclear Activity
(Times of Israel) David Horovitz interviews Yuval Steinitz - Israel's Minister of Intelligence and Strategic Affairs, Yuval Steinitz, says the framework deal paves Iran's path to the bomb - treating the regime "as though it can be trusted, like Holland or Japan." Steinitz posited that since the agreement does not freeze R&D on advanced centrifuges, it would take Iran only about five years to complete the R&D on its IR-8 centrifuges, geared to enrich uranium 20 times faster than its current IR-1s. "We're worried that in five years, if and when their research is done, they will be able to break out to the bomb in two to three months." Moreover, the understandings do not provide for critical "anywhere, anytime" inspections. In President Obama's New York Times interview, "Tom Friedman asked him, If there are military sites with nuclear activities, can there be 'anywhere/anytime' inspections? Obama said...we'd have to request that of the Iranians, and if the Iranians say no, there'll have to be arbitration. We say that is ineffective. It will take time....They claim that there's a freeze and inspections, and we see loopholes." "I don't accuse Obama or Kerry of bad intentions, but they're making a terrible mistake....I think there's a delusion...that Zarif and Rouhani are moderates who represent moderates in Iran...and that if we just give Rouhani and Zarif sanctions relief, we'll empower them vis-a-vis the Revolutionary Guards and [Supreme Leader] Khamenei." Instead, Steinitz argued, "Iran's behavior is much more aggressive around the Middle East than it was under Ahmadinejad....The concept that you'll empower the moderate Rouhani and Zarif...is totally unconnected with the facts on the ground."