Obama's time-line to Iran Talks

May 20, 2009 at 1:25 pm | Posted in Iran, Israel, Military Operations, Muslims, War | Leave a comment
Tags: Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Binyamin Netanyahu, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Nuclear weapon, Oval Office

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Isrrael’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu notched up positive result for him in getting President Obama set a time limit  to US efforts to persuade Iran to stop in its nuclear track towards making an Iran Bomb.

“We’re not going to have talks forever,” Mr Obama said on Monday, after a private meeting with Mr Netanyahu. “We’re not going to create a situation in which talks become an excuse for inaction while Iran proceeds with developing and deploying a nuclear weapon… If we can begin discussions soon, shortly after the Iranian elections, we should have a fairly good sense by the end of the year as to whether they are moving in the right direction”.

However, Obama was carefully vague about what would happen if the deadline passed and the country’s nuclear program continued.
The president, in fact, pointedly refrained from rehearsing that formula in his comments in the Oval Office. He said:

“We are not foreclosing a range of steps, including much stronger international sanctions, in assuring that Iran understands that we are serious.” At his briefing Mr Netanyahu added his own oracular line: “Israel reserves the right to act in self-defense.”

He contended that these veiled references to military action contributed to the potential efficacy of diplomatic and economic measures designed to persuade Iran to forgo the bomb.

Read more

Technorati Tags: Isrrael,Binyamin Netanyahu,Obama,Iran,time limit

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bibi Defends Israel, Obama Defends Appeasement (barbarany_9.blogspot.com)
• Netanyahu’s Bluff (mydd.com)
• Is a Nuclear Iran Obama’s legacy? (warintel.blogspot.com)
• Robert Gates: bombing Iran would not stop nuclear threat (telegraph.co.uk)
• US to Israel: Hands Off Iran (powerlineblog.com)
• Obama’s support for Palestinian state (guardian.co.uk)
• Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran – Or I Will (warintel.blogspot.com)
• Obama outreach to Muslims worries Israelis (ctv.ca)