State Dept. Slams Netanyahu: ‘Overstated,’ ‘Oversimplification,’ ‘Scary’

The Obama administration’s response to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Iran speech Tuesday included some cutting criticism from State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, who described his assertions variously as “rhetoric and nothing more,” “a little overstated and just not accurate,” “gross oversimplification” and “scary hypotheticals.”
Harf also suggested some of Netanyahu’s claims belonged in “a fantasy world,” obliquely mocked him for saying Iran was “gobbling up” countries in the region, and said pointedly that the Israeli leader was not an expert on nuclear proliferation matters, “last time I checked.”

 

Harf was commenting on claims made during Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, which took place on the same day as Secretary of State John Kerry was negotiating with the Iranians in Switzerland, three weeks before a deadline for a comprehensive deal on the nuclear program.

 

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