By David Lauter and Michael A. Memoli

Tribune Washington Bureau

(TNS) WASHINGTON — Standing at the rostum of the House of Representatives, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly challenged the Obama administration’s top foreign policy goal Tuesday, saying negotiations with Iran were headed for “a very bad deal; we’re better off without it.”

As Republican members of Congress applauded loudly, and many Democrats glared, Netanyahu laid out his case for opposing the administration’s course.

The proposed deal has two major flaws, he said. One is that it would leave Iran’s nuclear infrastructure largely intact. The other, on which he put the greatest emphasis, is a sunset provision that would allow Iran to gradually escape most restrictions on its nuclear activities after 10 years.

That period is a “blink of an eye,” Netanyahu said.

Such a short period of restrictions would be particularly dangerous in the case of Iran, he said, arguing that the nation’s theocratic government is an ideologically motivated, aggressive power, which he compared to Nazi Germany, and would be just as dangerous a decade from now.

The U.S. should “call their bluff,” Netanyahu said of the Iranians. “They need the deal a lot more than you do.”

If Iran refuses to accept more stringent terms, he said, the U.S. and its allies should reinforce the current economic sanctions. The U.S. could get a “better deal,” he said, if it holds out.

Administration officials say a collapse of the current negotiations would give Iran free rein to enrich uranium and pursue other nuclear activities without hindrance, leaving no option but military action to stop Iran if it decides to seek a nuclear weapon.

With Netanyahu’s address, and a series of speeches and interviews that Obama and other senior U.S. officials gave Monday, the battle over the potential deal is now fully joined, even though it remains unclear whether Iran will agree to the terms that the U.S. and five other world powers appear ready to offer.

Administration officials have said they believe that success in the current negotiations – let alone the tougher terms Netanyahu would insist on – is a 50-50 proposition. The two sides are seeking to create a framework agreement by the end of March, and a comprehensive deal by the end of June.

Netanyahu’s speech was strongest in laying out the dangers that Iran poses and the risks in the proposed deal. He said much less about what he would propose as an alternative.

He suggested that Iran would be willing to back down and give up its nuclear program if the world powers engaged in the negotiations—the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China—were willing to take a tougher stance and apply greater economic pressure.

So far, however, decades of economic sanctions have not forced Iran to abandon its efforts to enrich uranium and develop the infrastructure for a nuclear program.

Susan Rice, the administration’s national security adviser, said Monday in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that any proposal to entirely eliminate Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was “neither realistic nor achievable.”

“Even our closest international partners,” she said, “do not support denying Iran the ability ever to pursue peaceful nuclear energy. If that is our goal, our partners will abandon us, undermining the sanctions we have imposed so effectively together. Simply put, that is not a viable negotiating position.”

Several dozen congressional Democrats skipped Netanyahu’s address, while many others attended reluctantly, they said. U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, whose 12^th District includes part of Rowan County, said Monday she would attend the speech.

Adams did not release a statement after the speech. Those representing parts of Rowan who did release statements were U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-8, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5, and the state’s two Republican senators, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.

All their statements carried the same message: support for Israel and opposition to the Obama Administration’s hoped-for deal.

“As one of our closest allies and the only true democracy in the Middle East, Israel stands on the front lines of our shared battle against terrorism and radical Islam. Unfortunately, President Obama’s hands-off approach to foreign policy has weakened this critical relationship and emboldened our enemies throughout this volatile region,” Hudson said in his statement. “As Prime Minister Netanyahu warned Congress and the American people today, a nuclear equipped Iran is the single greatest threat to peace and stability in the world.”