Iran is continuing to build its ballistic capabilities, and it is time for the United States to change the nuclear agreement reached under former President Barack Obama's administration, Danny Danon, Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, said Wednesday.
"They're a bad actor continuing to fund terrorism in the Middle East, Lebanon, Syria, you name it, you'll find funding coming from Iran," Danon told Fox News' "America's Newsroom.
"They are continuing to build their ballistic capabilities. It was a bad agreement signed by the previous administration and it was time to change that agreement."
The agreement had several flaws, said Danon, including allowing Iran to do ballistic missile tests and not being able to inspect military bases without prior warning, which he called "a joke."
He also said it's concerning that the agreement would run out in seven years, which will come up quickly, and that Iran has continued to fund terrorism in Syria and Lebanon.
"We saw the demonstrations in Iran and the people in Iran saying enough spending our money on terrorism," said Danon. "Look what is happening today in Syria? They have more than 80,000 militants being paid by Iran to fight in Syria. By the way, the war is finished. ISIS has been defeated. Why do you still have so many troops in Syria? They want to take over Syria. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will not allow them to build bases in Syria today."
Danon also discussed Israel's move to shoot down a Syrian fighter jet, commenting that the country's policy is not to become involved in the Syrian civil war.
"What we saw yesterday, jets coming into Israel, we send a very clear message to the Syrians," said Danon. "We have a cease-fire agreement since 1974. Respect it. If you invade our airspace we'll shoot down your airplanes."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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