The U.S. - Israel Split On How To Deal With Iran's Nuclear Program Is Enormous

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Obama at the White House in October. Credit Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

David Sanger, New York Times: For Netanyahu and Obama, Difference Over Iran Widened Into Chasm

WASHINGTON — Over six years of bitter disagreements about how to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel kept running into one central problem: The two leaders never described their ultimate goal in quite the same way.

Mr. Obama has repeated a seemingly simple vow: On his watch, the United States would do whatever it took to “prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” Mr. Netanyahu has used a different set of stock phrases. Iran had to be stopped from getting the “capability” to manufacture a weapon, he said, and Israel could never tolerate an Iran that was a “threshold nuclear state.”

WNU Editor: Both leaders do not see eye to eye on how to deal with Iran's nuclear program .... if there was any doubts on that it was put to bed today. What is my take on this entire affair .... it has been the same since day one .... Iran made the strategic decision years ago to put into place the basic ingredients necessary for a nuclear weapons program, and if in the future they should then decide to assemble such a weapon, to have the means to produce the necessary fissionable material .... and to do so fast. Their rational for developing such a program is the same rational the that Soviet Union used, the British and French used, the Chinese used, India and Pakistan used, and one can even say that Israel used .... we need such a weapons program because it is necessary for the defense and national security of our country. President Obama has come to accept this Iranian point of view .... Israeli PM Netanyahu has not, and he has made it very clear he is willing to exercise force to make sure that it does not happen.