Iran nuclear deal: Obama assures Israel he is 'absolutely committed' to its security

United States President Barack Obama has said that he is "absolutely committed to making sure" that Israel maintained a military advantage over Iran, amid mounting criticism of the recently-struck framework nuclear deal.

Obama said that he understood and respected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance that Israel was "particularly vulnerable" and did not have the "luxury" to test these propositions. He however, added that he was absolutely committed to making sure that Israel would be able to deter any potential future attacks, reported the CNN.

He said that he was willing to make the kinds of commitments that would give everybody in the region, including Iran, a clarity that if Israel were to be attacked by any state, the US would stand by them. That, Obama said, should be "sufficient to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

His comments came after Netanyahu termed the nuclear deal that the United States and five other world powers struck with Iran "a bad deal" that will allow Tehran to use the relief from sanctions to bolster its terror machine.

Iran and six world powers chalked out an outline agreement on the future of Iran's nuclear programme following days of negotiation in Lausanne, Switzerland last week. The framework nuclear deal will require Iran to reduce its uranium enrichment capacity in exchange for relief from sanctions. Also, Iran's nuclear facilities will be subject to regular International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections.

The Middle East nation will have to rebuild its heavy-water reactor in Arak so that it cannot produce any more weapons-grade plutonium. However, Netanyahu and Republican critics in Congress have argued that Iran won't have to shut down its nuclear facilities and that the nation's leadership wasn't trustworthy enough for inspections to be as valuable as Obama says they are. 

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