Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the U.S. and Israel need to draw a clear line in the sand with Iran—and insisted such comments have nothing to do with the quickly approaching U.S. elections.
He insisted that Iran is now six months away from having 90% of the enriched uranium that would be needed to create a nuclear bomb.
“I think that you have to place that red line before them now, before it’s too late,” Netanyahu told David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press.
When asked if Tehran had already crossed the line, the Israeli leader said, “They’re in the red zone. You know, they’re in the last 20 yards. and you can’t let them cross that goal line. You can’t let them score a touchdown.”
The Obama administration wants more time to try non-military options—such as diplomacy and sanctions—which it hopes will force Tehran to stop its suspected nuclear work. But Netanyahu has repeatedly said Iran is close to acquiring a nuclear bomb.
Earlier this week, he criticized Washington’s policy, saying the U.S. had failed to set “red lines” and make clear what would provoke a violent response against Iran.
Netanyahu has long been friendly with Mitt Romney, ever since their days working at the Boston Consulting Group in the 1970s. Obama, meanwhile, has long had a prickly relationship with the Israeli leader, publicly illustrated last year when Obama was caught on a hot mic telling then-French President Nikolas Sarkozy, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.”
Considering Netanyahu’s personal relationships with both Obama and Romney, plus Romney’s more hawkish rhetoric on Iran, many analysts believe Netanyahu is actively lobbying for a Romney presidency, something the Israeli leader denied.
“I’m not going to be drawn into the American election,” he told Gregory. “What’s guiding my statements isn’t the American political calendar but the Iranian nuclear calendar.”
“We cherish the bipartisan support for Israel in the United States…This is not an electoral issue. It is not based on any electoral consideration,” he added to CNN’s Candy Crowley.









