Netanyahu to Obama: No Iran Hit Planned. Yet.

Iran has Israel, US in strained relationship
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2012 7:53 AM CST
Netanyahu to Obama: No Iran Hit Planned. Yet.
President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 5, 2012.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The US and Israel still don't quite see eye to eye on Iran, but Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House yesterday managed to reassure both sides. American officials emerged saying President Obama's tougher rhetoric had eased pressure on Israel to attack, the Wall Street Journal reports. In their closed-door meeting, Netanyahu told Obama that there are no plans for an attack yet, though he reserves the right to attack, sources tell Reuters.

But the two weren't able to reach a consensus over what "red line" Tehran would have to cross to provoke an attack. Netanyahu thinks the line should be drawn at nuclear "capability," a vague benchmark Iran may already have passed. And in an AIPAC speech last night, it didn’t sound like Netanyahu's zeal to attack had faded. He held aloft a 1944 letter in which the US denied a request from Jewish leaders to bomb Auschwitz, likening it to current arguments against attacking Iran. (More Benjamin Netanyahu stories.)

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