Bennett: Israel Won't Be Bound by Any Nuclear Deal with Iran

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 5, 2021. Sebastian Scheiner/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 5, 2021. Sebastian Scheiner/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
TT

Bennett: Israel Won't Be Bound by Any Nuclear Deal with Iran

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 5, 2021. Sebastian Scheiner/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 5, 2021. Sebastian Scheiner/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday that Israel will not be bound by any nuclear deal with Iran and will continue to consider itself free to act against its nemesis if necessary.

"In regard to the nuclear talks in Vienna, we are definitely concerned ... Israel is not a side to the agreements. Israel is not bound by what will be written in the agreements, if they are signed, and Israel will continue to maintain full freedom of action anywhere any time, with no constraints," he said in public remarks in a briefing to a parliamentary committee.

Negotiations in Vienna to restore the nuclear deal resumed in late November after they were suspended in June as Iran elected a new, ultraconservative government.

The deal offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

But then-president Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018 and derailed the accord, prompting Tehran to begin rolling back on its commitments.

Israel has called on world powers to maintain a credible military option against Iran while they pursue an agreement.



Manchester Bombing Survivors Awarded Damages for Harassment by Conspiracy Theorist

Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
TT

Manchester Bombing Survivors Awarded Damages for Harassment by Conspiracy Theorist

Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo

Two survivors of a bombing that killed 22 people at the close of an Ariana Grande concert seven years ago were on Friday awarded 45,000 pounds ($58,184) in damages after successfully suing a conspiracy theorist who claimed the attack was staged.

Martin Hibbert was paralysed from the waist down and his daughter Eve, then 14, suffered a catastrophic brain injury in the bombing at Manchester Arena in northern England in 2017, Reuters reported.

They sued Richard Hall – a self-styled journalist who claimed without evidence that the attack was orchestrated by British government agencies – for harassment.

Their case bears some similarities to defamation lawsuits brought against US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Judge Karen Steyn ruled last month that Hall's conduct in publishing a book and videos about the Manchester Arena bombing and filming Eve Hibbert and her mother outside their house in 2019 amounted to harassment.

The judge awarded Martin and Eve Hibbert a total of 45,000 pounds following a further hearing on Friday, British media reported.