Washington—President Barack Obama told Jewish leaders on Tuesday that if the nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran is rejected by Congress, the United States will be forced to attack Tehran, which will lead to Hezbollah retaliating with rockets on Tel Aviv.

“Israel will be the one to pay the price,” Obama told 22 American Jewish leaders from the Anti-Defamation League, Orthodox Union and J Street, among others, during a meeting at the White House.

The president asserted that if Congress votes against the agreement, the Islamic Republic will back out of it and he will then face pressure from those who oppose the deal to militarily strike Tehran.

“It would be destructive both to the US and to Israel,” Obama warned. “An American military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities will not end with Iran declaring war on us. Iran’s defense budget is $15 billion. The American defense budget is $600 billion. What Iran would do, and could do, is respond asymmetrically by increasing its support for terrorism.”

“Hezbollah rockets will rain down on Tel Aviv,” he stressed.

While Iran won’t attack the United States directly, it could attack American targets across the world, or arm and fund its proxies on Israel’s borders, Obama said.

The president said he was willing to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss how to increase Israel’s security, “but he won’t meet with me.”

“Meeting me would be, for him, like waving a white flag, and Netanyahu wants us to keep fighting over the agreement,” Obama said.

The meeting, held at the White House’s Cabinet Room on the president’s 54th birthday, was “serious” and “cordial” but at times “contentious,” according to some participants. Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and Obama’s adviser Ben Rhodes were also present.

The president’s meeting with the Jewish leaders came a few hours after Netanyahu’s speech to American Jews, broadcast to synagogues and community centers across the country.

“The nuclear deal with Iran doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, it actually paves Iran’s path to the bomb,” the prime minister said.

He argued that the deal gives Iran two paths to the bomb, “Iran can get to the bomb by keeping the deal, or Iran could get to the bomb by violating the deal.”

By Itamar Eichner/Ynetnews