Israel’s security cabinet is united in its opposition to the framework deal reached between world powers and Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement issued following a special meeting.

Local media reported that Netanyahu had called a meeting of his security cabinet, including ministers, as well as senior officials from Israel’s security services on Friday, after expressing his “vehement” opposition to the deal.

The outline agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear drive was clinched on Thursday after marathon talks in Switzerland, and marks a major breakthrough in a 12-year standoff between Iran and western countries, which have long suspected Tehran of seeking to build an atomic bomb.

Reading out a joint statement on Thursday evening, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said a “decisive step” had been achieved.

“This is a crucial decision laying the agreed basis for the final text of joint comprehensive plan of action. We can now start drafting the text and annexes,” said Mogherini, who has acted as a coordinator for the six powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called it a “win-win outcome”, while US President Barack Obama hailed the deal as a moment that the US and its allies had “reached a historic understanding with Iran”.

But Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Lausanne where the deal was struck, said that US diplomats still faced the challenge of convincing opposition Republican dissenters in Congress, and its ally Israel that the deal was sufficient.

Israel responds

Israel has argued relentlessly against such a deal and Netanyahu said on Thursday that an agreement would have to “significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear capabilities”.

In a phone conversation with Obama, Netanyahu said that a final deal based on this agreement “would threaten the survival of Israel”, while the prime minister’s spokesperson Mark Regev quoted the premier as saying that the emerging deal “would not block Iran’s path to the bomb. It would pave it”.

But Obama said that the issues at stake are “bigger than politics”.

“These are matters of war and peace,” he said, and if the Republican party-controlled Congress kills the agreement “international unity will collapse, and the path to conflict will widen”. Al Jazeera