‘Iran is 50 North Koreas,’ Netanyahu tells bipartisan congressional delegation

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) led a bipartisan congressional group, which met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday.

“Iran is 50 North Koreas. It is not merely a neighborhood bully like the dynasty that rules North Korea,” Netanyahu told the visiting lawmakers, according to the prime minister’s office. “This is an ideological force that views us, Israel, as the small Satan, and views you as the Great Satan.”

Netanyahu warned that a nuclear Iran, which could threaten and blackmail every U.S. city, would amount to “a changing of history,” per Netanyahu’s office.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, with a bipartisan US Congressional delegation led by House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Michael Turner @RepMikeTurner. pic.twitter.com/cg1deYL4f5

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) May 4, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), left, and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) during a meeting in Israel on May 4, 2023. Photo by Haim Zach/GPO.

Last year, Turner urged U.S. President Joe Biden to support the Abraham Accords. “The geopolitical and economic impacts of the Abraham Accords have created waves of change towards peace and progress throughout the Middle East and around the world,” he wrote at the time.

Turner has also criticized the “deeply flawed” Iran deal, under former President Barack Obama.

Also on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Iran now has enough material for five nuclear bombs.