Obama means it when he says Iran will not be allowed to go nuclear, Netanyahu affirms

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he is sure US President Barack Obama, along with Europe, will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.

In a Rosh Hashanah interview with Israel Hayom published on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he believes Obama means it when he says that Iran will not be allowed to obtain an atomic bomb.

“I am sure he means it, and the Europeans mean it, the same way as I mean it,” Netanyahu said. “The question is how do we reach that goal in a practical way?”

Netanyahu said that it was an attempt to tackle that very issue that was at the heart of his much-reported telephone conversation with Obama last week.

The prime minister added that there is no conflict between Israel and the US and that it is only natural that there is a difference of opinion that arises from the strategic location of each country. Tiny Israel is close to Iran and vulnerable, whereas the much larger US is further away and less at risk, he said.

Netanyahu recalled that he was the first to warn of the Iranian threat 16 years ago, and the first to call for sanctions. In both cases, the international community eventually followed his lead. And it will as well, he predicted, on the issue of setting “red lines” for Iranian nuclear development.

“At the moment I am alone, but I believe others will join me,” he said. Had he listened to the naysayers who over the years advised against taking action on Iran until conditions were more favorable, he said, the situation might be worse.

“I managed to create an international coalition against Iran,” he said. “It is burdening her economy but it has still not reached the most important thing: stopping the Iranian nuclear program.”

The prime minister declined to reveal what could ultimately prompt Israel to take military action against Iran.

He said that the urgency surrounding Iranian progress toward bomb-making capability is what drives his unrelenting demands for action.

“I could beg, or try to be polite, but we are talking about our existence, our future,” he said. Although he listens carefully to the advice he receives from Obama, he said, “when you do something that is justified, and common sense tells you that it is required, then it is the right thing to do.”

Likewise, Netanyahu said he listens to the swell of voices from Israel’s security establishment that reportedly advise against an independent strike on Iran. However, the prime minister countered, leaving Israel’s security in the hands of others carries its own dangers.

“What if the US doesn’t attack?” he asked. “That is a question that we must ask.”

Netanyahu rejected outright the accusation that he is trying to meddle with the US elections. What interests him, he stressed, are the Iranian centrifuges used to enrich uranium. The Iranians don’t intend to halt their enrichment program during the election period and therefore he cannot rest either, he said.

The bottom line, said the prime minister, is that although the country can be protected in one way or another against missile attacks, there is no defense against an atomic bomb — other than to prevent the enemy from achieving nuclear capability.

“That is to say — other than making it quite clear that anyone who ever considers attacking Israel with weapons of mass destruction will face the consequences,” he said.