--- description: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says world powers "have given up" on stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons title: Netanyahu Says World Powers 'Have Given Up' on Preventing Iran Nukes image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Netanyahu Says World Powers 'Have Given Up' on Preventing Iran Nukes by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 25, 2015 5:39 PM CUT  Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on Feb. 15, 2015. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on Feb. 15, 2015.Abir Sultan—Reuters by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 25, 2015 5:39 PM CUT In his sharpest criticism yet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says world powers “have given up” on stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons in ongoing negotiations. Netanyahu made the comments Wednesday night at a meeting of his Likud Party outside of Jerusalem. They come as Netanyahu plans to address the U.S. Congress on the nuclear negotiations. The West fears Iran could build an atomic bomb with its nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes. Netanyahu said: “From the agreement that is forming it appears that they (world powers) have given up on that commitment and are accepting that Iran will gradually, within a few years, develop capabilities to produce material for many nuclear weapons. They might accept this but I am not willing to accept this.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3722294/netanyahu-iran-nuke-talks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3722294/netanyahu-iran-nuke-talks/"},"headline":"Netanyahu Says World Powers 'Have Given Up' on Preventing Iran Nukes","datePublished":"2015-02-25T17:39:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:42:33.891Z","description":"Israeli Prime Minister says he's not willing to give up on preventing Iran's progress toward developing nuclear weapons","url":"https://time.com/3722294/netanyahu-iran-nuke-talks/","keywords":["Israel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Israeli PM Netanyahu weekly cabinet meeting","caption":"Israeli PM Netanyahu weekly cabinet meeting","creditText":"Abir Sultan—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3722294/netanyahu-iran-nuke-talks/","name":"Netanyahu Says World Powers 'Have Given Up' on Preventing Iran Nukes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Netanyahu's Visit Causes Tensions Between Israel and the U.S.","description":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to speak before a joint session of Congress on March 3rd, and the upcoming speech is having an affect on politics worldwide.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1r3FQru4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-25T22:46:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1r3FQru4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3722294/netanyahu-iran-nuke-talks/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3722294/netanyahu-iran-nuke-talks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```