London: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is set to deliver an ultimatum to US President
Barack Obama on stopping Iran from "acquiring" nuclear
weapons, a media report said on Sunday on the eve of their
meeting.
"At Monday`s meeting between Netanyahu and Obama the
Israeli prime minister will deliver a stark warning," the
Telegraph reported quoted sources in Jerusalem. Both the
leaders are meeting tomorrow in US capital Washington.
Netanyahu effectively brings with him an ultimatum,
demanding that unless the president makes a firm pledge to use
US military force to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb,
Israel may well take matters into its own hands within months,
it said.
"The threat is not an idle one. According to sources
close to the Israeli security establishment, military planners
have concluded that never before has the timing for a
unilateral military strike against Iran`s nuclear facilities
been so auspicious," the paper said.
The report comes two days after Obama said that he would
order the US military to destroy Iran`s nuclear programme as a
final option, if economic sanctions fail to compel Tehran to
shelve its nuclear ambitions.
"I don`t bluff," Obama had said delivering his most
explicit threat to Tehran to keep away from nuclear weapons,
warning that "all options are on the table" and that the final
option is the "military component."
It is an assessment based on the unforeseen consequences
of the Arab Spring, particularly in Syria, which has had the
result of significantly weakening Iran`s clout in the region.
Israel has always known that there would be an enormous
cost in launching an attack on Iran, with the Islamist state
able to retaliate through its proxy militant groups Hamas and
Hizbollah, based in Gaza and Lebanon respectively, and its
ally Syria.
Each is capable of launching massive rocket strikes at
Israel`s cities, a price that some senior intelligence and
military officials said was too much to bear.
PTI
