A number of Democrats, including President Barack Obama, took to the media to decry Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress, in which he called for the U.S. to abandon the president's "very bad" nuclear negotiations with Iran while, according to critics, offering no alternatives.
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Netanyahu's speech almost made her tear up.
"I was near tears throughout the prime minister's speech - saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States as part of the [negotiating] nations," Pelosi said, according to Bloomberg.
Netanyahu delivered a controversial speech to Congress on Tuesday in attempt to persuade U.S. lawmakers put more pressure on Iran, warning that the Obama administration's current deal would, rather than prevent the country from obtaining a bomb, "pave Iran's path to the [nuclear] bomb."
Obama criticized the speech for offering "nothing new" and providing no "viable alternatives" on the issue of preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons.
"On the core issue, which is how do we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which would make it far more dangerous and would give it scope for even greater action in the region, the prime minister didn't offer any viable alternatives," Obama told reporters on Tuesday, reported CNN.
"Keep in mind that when we shaped the interim deal, Prime Minister Netanyahu made almost the precise same speech about how dangerous that deal was going to be," Obama said.
"The bottom line is this: We don't yet have a deal. It may be that Iran cannot say yes to a good deal. I have repeatedly said that I would rather have no deal than a bad deal."
Another administration official told The Jerusalem Post, "Simply demanding that Iran completely capitulate is not a plan, nor would any country support us in that position. The prime minister offered no concrete action plan."
In all, at least 55 Democrats, including eight senators and 47 House members, boycotted Netanyahu's speech in protest, accusing the prime minister of subverting the U.S. political process.
Democratic Congressman Steven Cohen, who was among the boycotters, described the speech as "political theatre worthy of an Oscar," reported Press TV.
"I believe the prime minister was successful in probably getting reelected," Cohen said, referring to Netanyahu's reelection in Israel later this month. "I'm sure this will play well in Israel," he added.
Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman accused Netanyahu of "smacking down a straw-man deal that doesn't exist."
Others, like Democrat Rep. Peter Welch, were angry that Netanyahu seemingly undermined President Obama.
"The biggest long-term mistake ... the prime minister made was embracing a Boehner-led effort while he snubbed, very directly, the president of the United States," he said, The Hill reported.
Despite Netanyahu's passionate warnings that striking a nuclear deal with Iran would threaten the entire world, the Obama administration moved forward with the negotiation process on Wednesday.
Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up three days of talks with his Iranian counterpart, telling reporters that some progress was made, although "there are still significant gaps and important choices that need to be made" before the late March deadline for a preliminary agreement, according to Reuters.
