Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid said on Thursday that he hoped President Trump will not scrap the Iranian nuclear deal.
According to Lapid, it would be better for Israel if the 2015 nuclear deal was scuttled by international consensus as opposed to a single-handed move by the United States.
"Netanyahu is trying to unilaterally cancel the agreement, I say let’s take six more months,” Lapid said during an interview with Army Radio. “I am opposed to the nuclear deal, but I am not in favor of canceling it unilaterally.”
"We should involve and coordinate this with the Europeans if we want sanctions on the ballistic missile program, on promoting terrorism and making the inspections stricter," continued Lapid, who alleged that the US “doesn’t fully understand” what Israel seeks out of the deal.
Lapid also said that Netanyahu erred in exposing a daring Mossad operation to seize Iran's nuclear archives in a dramatic televised address Monday evening. "Had I been prime minister, I would sit with European leaders in closed forums and present the material to them," said Lapid, alleging that the expose harmed Israeli intelligence efforts.
Lapid's remarks come as President Trump appears to officially leave the Iran nuclear deal on May 12th. According to Reuters, two members of the Trump administration have said that the president "has all but decided" to scuttle the accords.
Speaking at Rose Garden press conference Monday, Trump called the 2015 Iran nuclear deal a “horrible agreement for the United States.”
“In seven years, that deal will have expired and Iran is free to go ahead and create nuclear weapons," he said. “That is just not an acceptable situation."