Netanyahu hails 'courageous' Trump decision on Iran

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hailed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to exit the nuclear deal with Iran.

President Donald Trump announced earlier the U.S. withdrawal from its participation in the landmark nuclear agreement world powers struck with Iran in 2015.

"U.S. Donald Trump took a courageous decision to cancel the deal with Iran," Israeli Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu said in televised statement.

Netanyahu described the deal as "a recipe of disaster".

"If the agreement had been maintained, it would have allowed Iran [to access] enough material to develop a full arsenal of bombs," Netanyahu added.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the brave leadership move would eventually cause "the awful and cruel Iranian regime to collapse".

"The leader of the free world today said [clearly], enough is enough", Liberman added.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin described the decision as a significant step in ensuring the security of Israel, the region and the entire free world.

The Israeli army, for its part, instructed the authorities in the occupied Golan Heights to open shelters over "suspicious Iranian activity in Syria".

"Following the identification of irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria, it has decided to change the civilian protection instructions in the Golan Heights and instructs local authorities to unlock and ready shelters," Israeli army said in a statement.

Trump opted not to extend sanctions relief on Iran ahead of a May 12 deadline, vowing instead to re-impose nuclear-related economic penalties.

The 2015 nuclear agreement placed unprecedented restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions, but Trump has consistently railed against it since he began his bid for America's highest office, repeatedly claiming it is the "worst deal" he has ever seen.

All of the U.S.'s negotiating partners -- the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and the EU -- had agreed that maintaining the accord was the best way to reign in Iran's program.