Penguins, but no props: Netanyahu reiterates anti-Iran deal case to UN

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attempted to bolster the case against the current nuclear accord between Iran and world powers at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, by calling upon nations to "fix it or nix it".

Netanyahu gave his address to the world body following US President Donald Trump's long address, in which the president again blasted the deal as "one of the worst US transactions ever".

The accord - which was struck in 2015 under former US President Barck Obama - gave Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for more stringent controls and inspections on its nuclear programme.

"I warned that when the sanctions will be removed Iran would behave like a hungry tiger unleashed," Netanyahu said. "Not joining the community of nations, but devouring the nations one after the other. That is precisely what Iran is doing today."

Netanyahu also used to address to talk up Israel's diplomatic credentials, while threatening Iran with potential action.

"Those that threaten us with annihilation put themselves in mortal peril," he said. "Israel will defend itself with the full force of our arms and the full power of our convictions".

A coordinated assault?

The Israeli leader's speech came just a day after a meeting in which he lobbied US president Trump over the Iran nuclear deal.

Both Trump and Netanyahu have been scathingly critical of the accord, with the US leader due to make a decision on re-certifying it next month.

Netanyahu also used his speech to praise Trump a number of times, claiming that the US leader had delivered the best speech to the UN he had seen in his 30 years of experience with the world body.

Netanyahu drove home his anti-Iran message with a reference to Cold War-era rhetoric about the Soviet Union's "Iron Curtain".

"An Iranian curtain is descending across the Middle East. It spreads this curtain over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere and pledges to extinguish the light of Israel," he said.

Penguins, but no props

Ditching his use of props and printed-out diagrams, as was the case in previous UN speeches, Netanyahu attempted to lighten his tirade with a joke about penguins and Antarctica.

"I want to go there, too, because I have heard penguins are also enthusiastic supporters of Israel, they have no difficulty recognising some things are black and white, right and wrong," he quipped, in a stab at world leaders' apparent indecision on Israel's concerns.