Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned US President Barack Obama not to be misled by recent conciliatory gestures from Iran that have led the administration to pursue talks aimed at resolving the standoff over the country’s nuclear ambitions. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Obama at the White House, Netanyahu said Iran’s “conciliatory words must be met with real actions.” He said: “What’s the bottom line? Iran must fully dismantle its nuclear program."
Obama and Netanyahu also discussed the peace process, as well as a US-led Security Council resolution that demands that Syria turn over control of its chemical weapons to international inspectors by mid-2014.
The Israeli premier’s visit to the White House came three days after Obama spoke for 15 minutes on the phone to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, marking the first time that the leaders of the two countries held direct talks since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Obama said on Friday that he had directed Secretary of State John F. Kerry to engage in negotiations over Iran’s uranium-enrichment program, which the United States, Israel and other nations think is a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iranian officials have denied that intent.
Obama said he had told Netanyahu that international economic sanctions had put pressure on the Iranian government to negotiate over its nuclear program. “We have to test diplomacy,” the US president said. However, he added that Iran had to negotiate in good faith and emphasized that he would not take any military option off the table if progress did not come about. Netanyahu called on Obama to tighten sanctions if Iran delays the diplomatic process or does not live up to a negotiated agreement.
“Both the prime minister and I agree, since I came into office, that it is imperative that Iran not possess a nuclear weapon,” Obama said, adding: “We do not want to trigger a nuclear arms race in the most volatile region in the world.”
“I do believe that there is a basis for resolution,” Obama told reporters in Washington after he spoke with Rouhani. “Iran’s supreme leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons. President Rouhani has indicated that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.”
At the same time, the American president has sought to reassure Israel that the United States would demand concrete steps from Iran in any nuclear pact and has emphasized that his Middle East priorities in his second term include a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli leaders fear that the international community, and the United States in particular, is in danger of being duped by the Iranians. One official compared the Americans to tourists wandering into a Middle East bazaar.
“The Persians have been using these tactics for thousands of years, before America came to be,” a senior Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying by the 'Washington Post'. “We are worried Obama is looking for a way out.”
