Netanyahu: EU response on Iran reminiscent of appeasement of Nazis
Prime minister lashes out at European states for determining that Iranian breaches of nuclear deal by increasing its uranium enrichment were not 'significant non-compliance', says in 1930s too 'there were those who stuck their head in the sand and did not see the approaching danger'
"(It) reminds me of the European appeasement of the 1930s," Netanyahu said in a video statement in Hebrew that was posted on Facebook.
The comments came after EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said none of the parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran saw its increased uranium enrichment as "significant non-compliance."
"Then, too, there were those who stuck their head in the sand and did not see the approaching danger," said Netanyahu, who has often cast Iran's nuclear projects as a mortal menace to Israel and the wider world.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb.
"It seems there are those in Europe who will not wake up until Iranian nuclear missiles land on European soil. But then it will be too late, of course," Netanyahu said.
Israel's main ally the United States quit the Iran nuclear deal last year, deeming it insufficient. That left Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany as parties to the deal.
Israel has predicted that, should European powers join Washington in reimposing sanctions on Tehran, that could prompt the Iranians to enter talks on a more limiting nuclear accord.
Alluding to Israel's long-standing if veiled threat of a last-resort war against its arch-foe, Netanyahu said: "In any event, we will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran getting nuclear weaponry."
The EU ministers drew no conclusions on what action should next be taken to head off a feared U.S.-Iranian conflict.
But by suggesting that Iran's non-compliance was not significant, it could anger the United States, which last week warned it would intensify sanctions on Iran over its breaches.
"For the time being, none of the parties to the agreement has signalled their intention to invoke this article," Mogherini told a news conference in Brussels, referring to a mechanism to punish non-compliance.
"(It) means that none of them for the moment, for the time being with the current data we have had in particular from the (UN nuclear watchdog) IAEA, (consider Iran's) non-compliance...to be significant non-compliance."
