‘NOTHING NEW’ IN NETANYAHU’S SPEECH, OBAMA SAYS

Washington, 13 Jumadal Awwal 1436/4 March 2015 (MINA)– US President Barack Obama says there was “nothing new” in Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial speech to a joint session of Congress.

Shortly after the Israeli prime minister ranted against the ongoing Iran nuclear talks, Obama told reports on Tuesday that Netanyahu “did not offer any viable alternative.”

“I am not focused in the politics of this, I am not focused on the theatre,” Obama said.  “As far as I can tell, there was nothing new”, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“We don’t yet have a deal. But if we are successful, this will be the best deal possible with Iran,” he said.

Obama also said that he did not watch Netanyahu’s speech on television.

Netanyahu’s controversial speech started on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. (local time). He was invited by US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner hours after President Barack Obama threatened to veto any sanctions legislation against Iran during his State of the Union address on January 20.

More than 50 House Democrats boycotted the event. The Obama administration is both angry at Netanyahu’s accepting the Republican invitation to address Congress two weeks before the Israeli election without consulting the White House and excessive Israel Lobby interference in American foreign policy.

Iran and the P5+1 group – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – are negotiating to narrow their differences over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program ahead of a July 1 deadline. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)