Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif charged on Wednesday that Israel should be the last country to criticize Iran's nuclear program.
“The stance of the Israeli leader is laughable,” Zarif said duringa lecture at New York University. “Netanyahu has become everyone's non-proliferation guru sitting on 400 warheads acquired in violation of the UN’s Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”
Zarif was in New York this week for the 2015 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference at the United Nations. He also met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday to discuss Iran's nuclear program.
It was the first meeting between the two since the April 2 deal reached in Lausanne, Switzerland setting out the parameters for the deal to curtail Iran's suspect nuclear program.
Global powers must still resolve a series of difficult technical issues by a June 30 deadline for a final deal, including the steps for lifting global sanctions imposed on Iran, and lingering questions over the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program.
On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a bill that would have tied sanctions relief for Iran to a certification that Tehran did not support terrorism. The bill, proposed by Republican Senator John Barrasso, was rejected 54-45, as several Republican Senators joined their Democratic colleagues, all of whom voted against the bill.
Had the bill passed, it would likely have been vetoed by President Barack H. Obama.
Meanwhile, in an interview Wednesday, Florida Senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said that he was still planning to file his law that would require Iran to recognize Israel if it wants to have sanctions removed. The law will be filed before the final Iran nuclear deal is presented, which is supposed to take place by the end of June.
Democrats, and some Republicans, are opposed to the bill, preferring to avoid a showdown that would likely unravel any deal that was hammered out with Iran.