Netanyahu will keep pressing U.S. on Iran

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested in an interview yesterday that he'll keep publicly pressing the United States to get tougher on Iran, despite the strains his remarks have caused with the Obama administration.

Netanyahu's remarks appear to have been aimed at rattling the United States into action for fear Israel might otherwise soon attack Iran on its own. But his heightened rhetoric has raised tensions with the White House.

Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that Iran is getting dangerously close to acquiring a nuclear bomb and has been lobbying Washington for weeks to spell out what conditions would touch off a U.S.-led attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

In a thinly veiled swipe at the United States, he said earlier this week that "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."

But Washington, which insists it won't let Iran become a nuclear power, has refused to be specific, despite Israel's implicit threat to act unilaterally.

The spat has become unusually public, prompting President Barack Obama to phone Netanyahu this week and to follow up the call with a rare late-night White House statement denying reports of a rift. Netanyahu's office has said the two men had a "good conversation."

In an interview yesterday, Netanyahu suggested he won't abandon his calls for Washington to set "red lines," telling The Jerusalem Post that he was "not exactly shy" about expressing his views on Israel's security interests. "When I feel I need to speak out, I do," he said.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes but Netanyahu is convinced it's a cover to build a bomb. The United States also suspects Tehran seeks to become a nuclear power, and has been leading international efforts to try to persuade it to abandon suspect elements of its nuclear program.