Israel's Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said the current nuclear framework agreement is "worse than the worst case scenario that we had anticipated." Photo: Mati Milstein/The Israel Project.

Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett referred to his own family on Wednesday to illustrate the immediacy of the Iranian nuclear threat and just how quickly restrictions on Iran will be lifted under the current framework agreement announced last week.

“President Obama himself said that when the time is out, the breakout time will be zero when this deal is over in about 10 years. My daughter, Abigail, will be 15 years old,” he told CNN‘s Erin Burnett. “This is nothing in the time of a nation…This bad deal legitimizes and paves the way for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Bennett was referring to President Barack Obama’s admission on Saturday regarding Iran’s nuclear breakout time after restrictions are wound down in a decade or so. In an interview with NPR, Obama said that, “in year 13, 14, 15″³ of the deal, “they have advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium fairly rapidly, and at that point, the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero.”

Obama Administration officials have since claimed the President was referring to a scenario in which no deal was reached.

On CNN, Bennett said the nuclear framework agreement was “worse than the worst case scenario that we had anticipated.” He explained, “This is a bad deal that doesn’t destroy one centrifuge; doesn’t shut down one underground facility and basically paves the way for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon but when they’re free.”

He said sanctions on Iran must remain in place in order for a good deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers to be acheived. He urged negotiators to “just wait” until the sanctions take their toll on Iran’s economy and the country has more to lose from its nuclear program.

“You don’t need to change anything. Just wait,” he said. “If you don’t let up now, sooner or later – within a year or three years – they’re gonna be up to a point where their economy just cannot sustain these sanctions and they’re gonna have to give up on this nuclear weapons program. And it is possible.”

“If they want nuclear energy, fine, but not weaponize it, that’s all we’re asking here,” he added. “I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request.”

Watch Naftali Bennett’s CNN interview in the video below: