Former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren blasted U.S. negotiators on Monday for endangering Israel and the stability of the Middle East by allowing Iran to keep much of its nuclear infrastructure intact.
Oren told CNN’s Jake Tapper Monday that Israeli opposition to the proposed Iran nuclear deal, the final parameters of which are unknown, is "a national consensus issue" that splits beyond party lines.
"Even the opposition to [Israeli President Benjamin] Netanyahu agrees that the deal as it is on the table is a bad deal and bad for Israel," Oren said.
Oren currently serves as a member of the Knesset, Israel’s legislative body. He belongs to the moderate Kulanu Party, not to Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party.
Tapper pressed Oren on The Lead to explain what he would change about the deal.
"A couple of things," Oren said. "One is dismantling a much bigger part of Iran’s nuclear program. Right now part of the program is being frozen, but it’s not being dismantled."
State Department negotiators have touted the claim that their deal would take many of Iran’s centrifuges offline. However, these centrifuges would likely be stored within Iran where they could be brought back online if Iran decided to break out toward a nuclear weapon.
Oren said that Israel’s biggest concern is that a nuclear deal would not address Iran’s generous support for terrorist groups that are destabilizing countries like Syria and Yemen.
"Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror," Oren said. "It is complicit in the murder of 200,000 Syrians. It is trying to undermine pro-American, pro-Western governments and it openly declares its intent to destroy Israel. We want a nuclear deal to be linked to a change in Iranian behavior."
It is estimated that Iran spends $15 billion per year to prop up the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Much of this money goes to equip the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Government reports released in the last two weeks have confirmed that Iran is among the worst human rights abusers and state sponsors of terrorism in the world. The State Department maintains negotiations with Iran are not meant to address human rights issues within the country.
Oren warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would lead to nuclear proliferation in the region, as rivals like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey raced to attain a deterrant capability.
A nuclear Iran could even transfer a nuclear weapon to one of its terrorist proxies.
"When Iran gets military nuclear capabilities, the terrorists get it," Oren said. "And then you don’t worry about a rocket coming in, you have to worry about a ship container coming into Haifa harbor.
"The Iranian nuclear program is not one existential threat to Israel, it is several existential threats," Oren said.