UNITED NATIONS: International pressure on Iran heightened yesterday as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama stressed their “shared goal” to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb.
Netanyahu, who is at UN meetings in New York, followed up his demand for a “clear red line” to be drawn on Iran’s nuclear drive with the phone call to the US president focused on the nuclear showdown.
Iran, meanwhile, demanded that the UN Security Council act on the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists and cyber-attacks which it blames on Israel and the United States. Obama and Netanyahu “underscored that they are in full agreement on the shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” said a White House statement.
They “took note of the close cooperation and coordination” between the United States and Israel on “the threat posed by Iran” and agreed to continue regular consultations, the statement added. Netanyahu grabbed attention at the UN General Assembly with his fierce attack on Iran and his demand for action to stop it enriching uranium to a level that could make a bomb. The Israeli prime minister used a cartoon drawing of a bomb with the fuse lit to put his limits on Iran’s nuclear programme. He did not mention Israel’s threats to stage a unilateral attack, but said Iran’s uranium enrichment plants were a credible “target”.
“At this late hour, there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs — and that’s by placing a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme,” Netanyahu told the 193-member UN assembly. AFP:
