Hands off the Mullahs.
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obamahas warned that a premature attack on Iranwould allow it to play the “victim” in the nuclear crisis just days before key talks with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
In some of his toughest comments yet on Tehran’s nuclear drive, Obama also warned that Israel and Iran should take seriously possible US action against Iranian nuclear facilities if sanctions fail to stop the country’s atomic ambitions.
“I also don’t, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.”
Netanyahu’s government has maintained that all options remain on the table with regard to action on Iran, whose firebrand leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned Israel’s right to exist.
But Obama issued a blunt warning against a premature strike, saying it could inadvertently help the Iranian regime.
“At a time when there is not a lot of sympathy for Iran and its only real ally (Syria) is on the ropes, do we want a distraction in which suddenly Iran can portray itself as a victim?” Obama said.