Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday cited North Korea as an example of failed denuclearization efforts, stressing that Iran could also end up possessing nuclear bombs like the communist nation.

Speaking before a joint session of U.S. Congress, Netanyahu emphatically implored the United States to reject a deal being negotiated with Iran, denouncing it as a "very bad deal" that would allow Tehran to legitimately possess enriched uranium that can be used in building nuclear weapons.

"Inspectors knew when North Korea broke to the bomb, but that didn't stop anything. North Korea turned off the cameras, kicked out the inspectors. Within a few years, it got the bomb," Netanyahu said. "Now, we're warned that within five years North Korea could have an arsenal of 100 nuclear bombs."

Netanyahu was referring to a recent estimate by U.S. experts that Pyongyang's nuclear stockpile could expand from the current 10-16 nuclear weapons to as many as 100 bombs by 2020.

"Like North Korea, Iran, too, has defied international inspectors ... Like North Korea, Iran broke the locks, shut off the cameras. Now, I know this is not going to come as a shock to any of you, but Iran not only defies inspectors, it also plays a pretty good game of hide-and-cheat with them," he said.

Netanyahu claimed that the deal currently being negotiated with Iran would leave what he called "the foremost sponsor of global terrorism" just "weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons and this with full international legitimacy."

Iran has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted, Netanyahu said, adding that the current deal would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure and relies on inspectors to prevent a breakout. That concession creates a "real danger that Iran could get to the bomb by violating the deal," he said.

"My friends, for over a year, we've been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well, this is a bad deal. It's a very bad deal. We're better off without it," he said. "Now we're being told that the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That's just not true. The alternative to this bad deal is a much better deal."(Yonhap)