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Iran: Obama assures Netanyahu of US support
Obama previewed the Oval Office meeting with a speech on Sunday to American supporters of Israel, a crucial constituency in this election year.
Obama said he does not want war but insists he would attack Iran if that was the only option left to stop that nation from getting a nuclear weapon.
“Loose talk of war” only plays into Iran’s hands, Obama said.
US officials believe that while Tehran has the capability to build a nuclear weapon, it has not yet decided to do so. They want to give sanctions time to pressure Iran to give up any military nuclear ambitions. Israel says the threat is too great to wait and many officials there are advocating a pre-emptive strike.
The head of the UN nuclear agency said on Monday his organization has “serious concerns” that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work, as he acknowledged failure in his latest attempt to probe such suspicions and listed recent atomic advances by Iran.
“The agency continues to have serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in Vienna.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
