Mr Netanyahu assured Barack Obama in talks in Washington on Monday that Israel
had made no decision on attacking Iranian nuclear sites, sources close to
talks said, but he also gave no sign of backing away from the option of
military strikes.
Israel is widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal but
its conventional firepower may not be enough to deliver lasting damage to
Iran’s distant, dispersed and well-fortified facilities, many experts say.
In an separate separate interview, Mr Netanyahu said Israel felt the Iranian
threat was more immediate to itself than to the United States.
“There is an inherent difference: The US is big and far away, Israel is less
big and closer to the threat, and of course, there are different
capabilities,” he said.
“Therefore, the US clock for stopping Iran becoming nuclear is not the same as
the Israeli clock, which, of course, runs on a different timetable.”
In answer to a question by the Channel 1 interviewer whether he trusted Mr
Obama’s commitment that the United States would not allow Iran to become a
nuclear threat to Israel, Mr Netanyahu replied: It is an important
statement, but ultimately our responsibility is to ensure that we do not get
to a situation where we contradict what President Obama said.
“We must not get to a state where Israel does not have the ability to defend
itself by itself against any threat.”
Related posts:
Views: 0