A woman holds up a placard during a rally on New York’s Times Square against the nuclear deal with Iran.

AFP/New York

Protesters poured into New York’s Times Square on Wednesday to denounce the Iran nuclear deal as a threat to Israel and global security, demanding that the US Congress reject the pact.
Speakers, including Republican politicians, called on Congress to throw it out, whipping up the crowd that included right-wing Jewish and evangelical Christian groups.
“We’re here as Americans to speak with one voice to say stop Iran now, reject this deal,” said George Pataki, the former three-term Republican governor of New York. “This is a God-awful deal, this must be rejected. Congress must do its job and stand up for the American people, stand up for our safety and say no to this Iranian deal.”
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, co-organiser of the Stop Iran Rally, claimed that there were 10,000 people in the crowd. Protesters held up US flags and placards denouncing the deal.
A spokesperson for the organisers said that protesters had packed an entire block on both sides of Seventh Avenue.
The rally expressed support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose criticism of the deal has strained relations with President Barack Obama.
Recent polls have suggested that of the 79% of Americans who heard about the deal, 48% disapprove.
Organisers played a montage of news reports about bombings around the world carried out by extremist groups linked to Iran.
“Iran has been killing Americans for 36 years,” it said. “Stop the deal.”
Scholar and Democrat Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, appealed to fellow liberals to side with Republican opposition.
“It is a bad deal for Democrats. It is a bad deal for liberals. I am here opposing this deal as a liberal Democrat,” he said.
He called the deal bad for America, bad for world peace and bad for the security of the Middle East.