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Iran: Obama assures Netanyahu of US support
Looking directly at Obama, Netanyahu said Iran is right about one thing: Israel and the United States are indistinguishable as Iran’s enemies.
“We are you and you are us,” he said.
Obama will try to persuade Netanyahu to slow quickening pressures among many in his hawkish government to attack Iran’s disputed nuclear development sites.
Each man tried to display unity despite policy and personal differences, but ended up putting some of their divisions on display.
“Israel and America stand together,” Netanyahu said.
The president is expected to tell Netanyahu in private at the White House that although the US is committed to Israel’s security, it does not want to be dragged into another war. Obama is unlikely to spell out US “red lines”, markers that would trigger a military response, despite Israeli pressure to do so.
“It is profoundly in the United States’ interest to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. We do not want to see a nuclear arms race in one of the most volatile regions in the world. We do not want the possibility of a nuclear weapon falling in to the hands of terrorists, we do not want a regime that has been a state sponsor of terrorists being able to feel that it can act more aggressively,” Obama said.
