SDE BOKER, Israel, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday he was glad talks in Geneva, Switzerland, about Iran's nuclear program failed to secure a deal.
Netanyahu told the weekly Cabinet meeting, held in Sde Boker to mark the 40th anniversary of the death of David Ben-Gurion, he would do everything within his power to persuade world leaders not to sign a "bad" deal with Iran, Haaretz reported.
Netanyahu was referring to a meeting in Geneva Saturday where diplomats of the P5+1 group, comprised of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany, failed to reach a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program. Talks with Iran will resume Nov. 20.
"I told them that according to the information reaching Israel, the deal that appears to be in the offing is bad and dangerous," Netanyahu said. "Not just for us but also for them. I suggested that they wait and give it serious consideration, and it's good that that is indeed what was decided. We will do everything we can to convince the leaders not to reach a bad agreement."
Netanyahu said he has spoken with U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande and urged them not to sign a deal with Iran, Haaretz said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Sunday said in Tehran sanctions imposed by the West on the Islamic Republic not only harm Iran but also those who imposed them. He called the sanctions illegal and inefficient.
"The region, the world and the negotiating sides with Iran will benefit from the negotiations and success in such negotiations means stability in the world and paving the way for interaction among Iran, the region and the world," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Rouhani as saying.
Wendy Sherman, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs and head of the American negotiating team on Iran's nuclear program talks in Geneva, was due to arrive in Jerusalem Sunday to meet with Netanyahu and other Israeli government and intelligence officials to update them on the negotiations, unnamed officials told Haaretz.
