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Report: Obama asks Netanyahu to Take ‘Breather’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Yonatan SindelPresident Obama requested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take a “breather” from his harsh criticism of the U.S. strategy regarding Iran during a call betwee the two leaders, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The request came as the administration girds up for a push in the next six months to reach a final settlement on Iran’s nuclear program. The president reportedly urged Netanyahu to tone down his rhetoric for the sake of diplomacy and urged him to dispatch officials to Washington who could help negotiate a resolution agreeable to both countries.

The president called Netanyahu last Sunday, promising to keep the Israeli leader up-to-date regarding the progress of negotiations for a final settlement. He also reaffirmed that the two countries share the same goal of a nuclear-free Iran.

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Netanyahu: Iranian Nuclear Accord a False Peace

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Photo Credit: Hayim Tzah/GPOBy Herb Keinon.

“What was agreed last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “Today the world has become a much more dangerous place, because the most dangerous regime in the world has taken a significant step toward attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world.”

For the first time, he said, the leading powers of the world agreed to uranium enrichment in Iran, while removing sanctions that it has taken years to build up in exchange for “cosmetic Iranian concessions that are possible to do away with in a matter of weeks.”

Netanyahu said the consequences of this deal threaten many countries including Israel. He reiterated what he has said in the past, that Israel is not obligated by the agreement.

“Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction, and Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself against any threat,” he said.

“I want to make clear as the prime minister of Israel, Israel will not allow Iran to develop a military nuclear capability.”

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Israel vows ‘whatever is necessary’ to stop Iran

By WND.

Israel will do “whatever is necessary” to stop Iran from going nuclear, declared Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon in a radio interview Sunday.

Speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on New York’s WABC Radio, Danon warned all options are on the table after Iran and six world powers reached what is being described as an historic deal.

“We were not part of the negotiations,” he said. “We have not signed this agreement. And we will do whatever is necessary to protect Israel.”

Danon said, “We cannot allow ourselves to make a mistake. If it is a bad agreement and Iran is playing with the world, maybe the Western superpowers can afford to make such a mistake. It is not the case for Israel.”

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Netanyahu Jabs Obama on Iran (+video)

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Photo Credit: Yonatan SindelIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised French President Francois Hollande’s “courageous stance” against Iran on Sunday, an indirect jab at President Obama’s push for diplomatic talks.

Netanyahu called France a “true friend” of Israel as he greeted Hollande on his first official trip to the country. France demanded last week that a preliminary deal on Iran’s nuclear program be toughened, causing it to be rejected by Iran.

“Zionism was influenced by the values of the French Revolution,” Netanyahu told Hollande, according to Haaretz. “Israel sees France as a true friend. France, like Israel, aspires for a stable Middle East that lives in peace and security.”

He told members of his Cabinet that he hoped Hollande’s visit could stiffen the resolve of other countries negotiating with Iran. Talks with Iran are being led by the permanent members of the Security Council – the U.S., France, Great Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany.

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Netanyahu Warns US Not to Roll Back Iran Sanctions, Release Frozen Assets (+video)

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Photo Credit: IsraelinUSAThe United States should not ease sanctions against Iran until it can prove that Iran has fully dismantled its nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The warning comes amid reports that the Obama administration is considering offering Iran a chance to recover frozen assets overseas in exchange for steps to scale back its nuclear program.

“The question is not of hope,” Netanyahu said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “The question is of actual results.”

“I think the pressure has to be maintained on Iran, even increased on Iran, until it actually stops its nuclear program,” he added. “You don’t want to go through halfway measures.”

Netanyahu compared Iran’s nuclear program to chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, which President Bashar Assad has pledged to eliminate.

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Netanyahu In UN Address Decries Iran’s Rouhani as ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’

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Photo Credit: Fox

Photo Credit: Fox

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the world community not to be fooled by the new Iranian president’s conciliatory words, using a U.N. address to decry him as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Netanyahu, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly session on Tuesday in New York, sought to counter the positive reviews Iranian President Hassan Rouhani got over his debut at the international gathering. As the U.S. reaches out anew to Iran under its new leadership, the Israeli prime minister suggested Hassan Rouhani is no better than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Rouhani didn’t sound like Ahmadinejad, but when it comes to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the only difference between them is this: Ahmadinejad was the wolf in wolf’s clothing. Rouhani is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Netanyahu said. “A wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community.”

Netanyahu spoke after meeting in person with President Obama on Monday in Washington.

Netanyahu is wary amid efforts to re-launch diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Iran, and following a historic phone call on Friday between Obama and Rouhani. The Obama-Rouhani phone call was the first between an American and Iranian president since the Iranian revolution of 1979, which sent U.S.-Iranian relations into a deep freeze.

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Israel’s Netanyahu to Warn US, UN about Iran’s ‘Smiley Campaign’

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Photo Credit: Fox

Photo Credit: Fox

Just days after the first conversation between the leaders of the U.S. and Iran in 34 years was hailed as a “breakthrough” in relations between the two countries, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking an unpopular message to the White House and the United Nations: Don’t be fooled by Tehran’s “sweet talk.”

Netanyahu, who contends Iran is using conciliatory gestures as a smoke screen to conceal an unabated march toward a nuclear bomb, will meet with President Obama Monday to deliver strong words of caution to the U.S.

“I will tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and the onslaught of smiles,” Netanyahu said before boarding his flight to the U.S. on Sunday. “Telling the truth today is vital for the security and peace of the world and, of course, it is vital for the security of the state of Israel.”

Netanyahu also plans to offer up fresh intelligence in his attempt to persuade the U.S. to maintain tough economic sanctions and not allow the Islamic republic to develop a bomb or even move closer to becoming a nuclear threshold state.

Israeli leaders watched with great dismay what they derisively call the “smiley campaign” by Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, last week. Rouhani delivered a conciliatory speech at the United Nations in which he repeated Iran’s official position that it has no intention of building a nuclear weapon and declared his readiness for new negotiations with the West.

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Benjamin Netanyahu Warns of Iran ‘Honey’ Trap

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benjamin-netanyahu-speech__13223894__mbqftemplateidrenderscaledpropertybildwidth465Prompted by growing alarm over the prospect of rapprochement between Iran and the West, the Israeli prime minister will warn that Mr Rouhani’s conciliatory tone conceals the same hostile intent voiced explicitly by the combative Mr Ahmadinejad when he addresses the UN general assembly on October 1.

He will also warn the West to avoid being caught in a honey trap laid by Mr Rouhani, who was elected in June on a promise to end Iran’s international isolation. “This is not honey, this is venom,” the prime minister will say, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, which claimed to have seen a preview of his planned delivery.

Israeli officials have been trailing excerpts from Mr Netanyahu’s speech more than a week in advance in a desperate effort to counteract the effects of Mr Rouhani’s arrival in New York, where he is expected to call for a fresh diplomatic engagement in his own UN speech today.

By contrast, the Israeli leader will respond to Iranian overtures seeking a resolution to the impasse over its nuclear programme by warning that no deal is better than a bad agreement. He will remind diplomats that a deal was struck in 2005 over North Korea’s nuclear activities only for the Communist regime to test a bomb a year later.

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Netanyahu to Obama: Attack Iran or We Will

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Photo Credit: Yonatan SindelPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly to launch a new, last-ditch effort in the next few days to persuade the United States to credibly revive the military option against Iran.

If this proves unsuccessful, Channel 2 reported, Netanyahu will have to decide whether to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by this winter at latest, because after that, the report indicated, the assessment is that Israel’s window for military intervention will close.

Israel desperately wants to see the Obama Administration harden its position on Iran immediately — to convey to Iran that if it does not halt its nuclear program, its regime will not survive. Instead, however, Jerusalem sees what it considers an overly tolerant and patient attitude by Washington DC to Tehran, the Channel 2 report said.

Next week, the P5+1 powers — the five UN Security Council members, plus Germany — are set to meet to coordinate positions ahead of possible talks with incoming Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s leadership. The fear in Jerusalem, the TV report said, is that Iran will prove capable of buying more time in such talks, while its centrifuges spin, its other nuclear facilities move forward, and it becomes too late for effective military intervention.

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Syrian Tinderbox: Israel Threatens Intervention

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Photo Credit: Amos Ben Gershom

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has affirmed that Israel is prepared to conduct military action inside Syria to keep “game-changing” weapons out of terrorists’ hands. In an interview with the BBC in London Wednesday, Netanyahu also warned of a possible backlash if the international community decides to arm rebel groups.

“The main areas of concern to us are the arms that are already in Syria — these are anti-aircraft weapons, these are chemical weapons and other very, very dangerous weapons that could be game-changers,” he said. “They will change the conditions, the balance of power in the Middle East. They could present a terrorist threat on a worldwide scale. It is definitely our interest to defend ourselves, but we also think it is in the interest of other countries.”

Netanyahu was in London to attend the funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, and after the ceremony met with UK Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street.

Israel has been training a wary eye on developments in Syria, and particularly on the Golan Heights, where the fighting has on several occasions spilled across the border in the form of stray mortar rounds and sporadic fire on Israeli soldiers. Last week, IDF troops fired a guided missile at a Syrian army post after shots from the position damaged an IDF vehicle. Earlier in the month, IDF tanks fired at a Syrian position after small arms fire was directed at Israel.

The prime minister warned of possible dangers should the international community begin to supply rebels with weapons in addition to training and the nonlethal equipment, such as vehicles and communications devices, that has already been deployed in the field..

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Pentagon Slip May Cause Israel to Fast-Track Plans to Attack Iran

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Analysts fear a dramatic advance in North Korea’s nuclear missile technology, revealed inadvertently during a Congressional hearing Thursday, will quickly find its way to Iran — forcing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fast-track a long-contemplated attack against Tehran’s nuclear-enrichment facilities.

Pentagon officials are playing down a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that North Korea probably has the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon and place it on an ICBM. U.S. officials say that miniaturization capability, if it exists, is untested and unreliable.

In February, North Korea detonated what is described as a “lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb.” At the time, there was speculation this could signal the Hermit Kingdom had developed a nuclear warhead that it could place on its long-range missiles. Pentagon officials, however, continued to insist North Korea was at least a year away from developing that capability.

Jerusalem Post defense analyst Yaakov Katz, author of “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War,” tells Newsmax that U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials have generally agreed that it would take Iran six to 12 months to build a nuclear device once it tried to break out and enrich its material from the 20-percent to the 90-percent level required. Beyond that, intelligence experts have projected, it would then take Iran another year or two to produce a miniaturized warhead that could be installed on a missile.

Now, Katz says, the time lag between reaching nuclear capability and Iran’s ability to arm a missile with a nuclear warhead appears to have vanished. That means Thursday’s revelation could reduce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nonmilitary options against Iran, forcing the Jewish state to step up its timetable for attacking the Persian nation should it acquire enough enriched uranium to be a significant threat.

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