Israeli Premier calls Iran deal a historic mistake

Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a nuclear deal concluded between major powers and Iran today was "a historic mistake" and hinted he remained ready to order military action.

"In every area where it was supposed to prevent Iran attaining nuclear arms capability, there were huge compromises," his office quoted him as saying at the start of a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders.

"We knew very well that the desire to sign an agreement was stronger than anything, and therefore we did not commit to preventing an agreement," Netanyahu said.

"We did commit to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and this commitment still stands," he added in what was seen as a thinly veiled threat of pre-emptive strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, although analysts said unilateral military action was highly unlikely for now.

Netanyahu has long opposed any deal with Iran, and Israel has previously signalled it could take military action if need be to stop the Islamic republic from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability.

He has taken his campaign to the US Congress and the UN General Assembly but ultimately failed to block the agreement. 

The deal puts strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities for at least a decade and calls for stringent UN oversight, with world powers hoping that this will make any dash to make an atomic bomb virtually impossible.