HEADLINES:

Israeli Sharpens Call for United States to Set Iran Trigger
By DAVID E. SANGER and ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: September 11, 2012

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel inserted himself into the most contentious foreign policy issue of the American presidential campaign on Tuesday, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike. As a result, he said, the administration has no “moral right” to restrain Israel from taking military action of its own.

Mr. Netanyahu’s unusually harsh public comments about Israel’s most important ally, which closely track what he has reportedly said in vivid terms to American officials visiting Jerusalem, laid bare the tension between him and President Obama over how to handle Iran. They also suggested that he is willing to use the pressure of the presidential election to try to force Mr. Obama to commit to attack Iran under certain conditioNS.

He appeared to be responding to a weekend statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States was “not setting deadlines” beyond which it would turn to a military solution.

Mr. Netanyahu, speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, said, “Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”

In another sign of tensions, the Israeli Embassy in Washington said late Tuesday that the Obama administration had declined a request from Mr. Netanyahu’s office for a meeting with Mr. Obama when the Israeli leader attends the United Nations General Assembly this month. The Obama administration said the decision was due to a scheduling problem and had been conveyed to Israel long ago.

On Tuesday night, Mr. Obama called Mr. Netanyahu to try to calm the situation. The two talked for a full hour, hashing through the Iran confrontation and their misunderstandings.

“President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed that they are united in their determination to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and agreed to continue their close consultations going forward,” the White House said in a statement after the phone call.

The White House also tried to tamp down controversy over the request for a meeting, saying that after a possible New York encounter was ruled out, Mr. Netanyahu did not request a meeting in Washington. “Contrary to reports in the press, there was never a request for Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with President Obama in Washington, nor was a request for a meeting ever denied,” the statement said.

The United States says it has no evidence that Iranian leaders have made a final decision to build a bomb. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report says the country has amassed a stockpile of low- and medium-enriched uranium that, with further enrichment, could fuel as many as six nuclear weapons.

The United States concluded several years ago that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons development program at the end of 2003, though there has been evidence of sporadic work since. The Israelis say Iran is quietly reconstituting a much larger effort.

In demanding that Mr. Obama effectively issue an ultimatum to Iran, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to be making maximum use of his political leverage at a time when Mr. Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has sought to make an issue of what Mr. Romney says is the administration’s lack of support for Israel.

It is not clear what level of development in Iran’s nuclear program would constitute a “red line” in Israeli eyes. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a research institute, and a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview last week, “It is very important to draw a line about the quantities of enriched uranium and the levels of enrichment.”

One option that has been widely discussed among experts advising the United States government is capping Iran’s uranium enrichment at a reactor-grade level. Also, Iran would be permitted to stockpile no more than 1,764 pounds of that uranium, less than is required, if further enriched, to make a single bomb.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/world/middleeast/united-states-and-israel-engage-in-public-spat-over-iran-policy.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120912

Iran has shown they do not respect their own nuclear nonproliferation
agreements anyway. They did not tell inspectors about Natanz or their
other underground facilities until they were discovered independently
by others. So, any agreements with Iran will require extremely
intrusive and unpalatable oversight for strict compliance.

So if Iran agrees to not do any enrichment beyond a certain percentage
- they are likely to surreptitiously try to exceed that until they are
caught. If Iran commits not to have more than a certain weight of
low-grade enriched material stockpiled then they are most likely to
not respect that and try to sneak higher amounts and stockpile it in
various hiding places where they could get at it in secret.

The only way is to going to be strict adherence monitoring by
multiple adversaries of Iran and swift devastating consequences for
thumbing their noses at compliance.