Israeli leader blasts world powers on Iran nuke talks

JERUSALEM -- In his sharpest criticism yet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that world powers "have given up" on stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons in ongoing negotiations.

Netanyahu's comments, at a meeting of his Likud Party outside of Jerusalem, come amid an uproar over his plans to address the U.S. Congress on the nuclear negotiations.

In an interview on "CBS This Morning" co-host Charlie Rose's PBS program, President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, called Netanyahu's visit "destructive."

He accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress about Iran in early March, but the speech has angered the Obama administration because it was arranged without consulting the White House, a breach of diplomatic protocol.

"The relationship between Israel as a country and the United States as a country has always been bipartisan, and we've been fortunate that politics have not been injected into that relationship," Rice said. "What has happened over the last several weeks by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the speaker and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu, two weeks in advance of his election, is that on both sides there has now be injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it's destructive of the fabric of the relationship."

Relations between Netanyahu and the White House always have been tense. His planned speech also has drawn fire in Israel. Netanyahu has rejected the criticism, saying it is his duty to lobby against the nuclear deal.

The West fears Iran could build an atomic bomb with its nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes. The Islamic Republic is now negotiating a final deal with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, with hopes of on a preliminary deal in March and a follow-up pact in June.

Netanyahu, as well as many in Israel, view a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its very existence, citing Tehran's repeated calls for Israel's destruction and its support for groups like Hezbollah.

In his remarks, Netanyahu said that the greatest challenge Israel faces is "the threat of Iran arming itself with nuclear weapons with a declared goal of annihilating us."

"From the agreement that is forming it appears that they (world powers) have given up on that commitment and are accepting that Iran will gradually, within a few years, develop capabilities to produce material for many nuclear weapons," he said. "They might accept this but I am not willing to accept this."