‘There may come a time’ when US uses military force against Iran, Obama tells rabbis

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Washington will not announce a red line that could trigger a strike against Iran, US President Barack Obama told rabbis in a pre-Rosh Hashanah conference call.

Obama stressed, however, that there was “no space” between Washington and Jerusalem on the Iranian issue.

“There may come a time,” Obama told 1,200 rabbis of all denominations on the call Friday, that the United States would “exercise a military option” to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Though he said that he would not set red lines or a deadline, as Israel has demanded,  Obama insisted that “there is no space between the US and Israel” on Iran.

He also noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would also not make public his own trigger for military action. “No leader ties his own hands,” he said.

The US president reiterated Washington’s commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. However, he stressed that “there remains time and space for diplomacy.”

Obama also spoke about the recent anti-American violence in the Middle East. “We knew this process would not be easy,” he said, referring to the development of democracies in the wake of the Arab Spring. “The United States must be aligned with democracy and human rights.”

The rabbis asked Obama why he has been focused so much during this election year on the middle class, at times seemingly to the exclusion of the poor.

Obama responded that the programs he has championed as benefitting the middle class, including expanded health care, would also benefit the poor.

Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, “wish you a happy and sweet New Year.”

The rabbis, in introducing Obama, also noted their outstanding plea that he commute the life sentence of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

The call was organized by the rabbinical umbrellas of the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox streams.