'We do not want to see a nuclear arms race in one of the most volatile regions of the world,' Obama said. |
President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened their bilateral meeting at the White House Monday with Iran as their main topic of conversation as they reaffirmed reaffirming their nations’ support for each other.
“The United States will always have Israel’s back,” Obama said in the Oval Office ahead of a one-on-one Oval Office discussion with Netanyahu and an afternoon of more meetings.
Obama said that the U.S. position on Iran’s nuclear program is prevention, not containment. “We understand the costs of any military action,” he said. “We are in constant and close consultation.”
Netanyahu took a more hawkish stance toward Iran.
“When it comes to Israel’s security, Israel has the right, the sovereign right to make its own decisions,” he said. “After all, that is the very purpose of the Jewish state, to restore to the Jewish people control over our destiny.”
Netanyahu stressed the countries’ many ties and years of friendship — and used this to argue that America and Israel are viewed as one to Iran and other enemies.
“We are you, and you are us. We’re together,” Netanyahu said.
Obama said he and Netanyahu would also discuss the stalled peace process, which has faded in urgency as the threat of a nuclear Iran intensifies, and plans to “potentially bring about a calmer set of discussions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and arrive at a peaceful resolution to that longstanding conflict. It is a very difficult thing to do in light of the context right now. But I know that the prime minister remains committed to trying to achieve that.”
“We do not want to see a nuclear arms race in one of the most volatile regions of the world,” Obama said.
Their last Oval Office meeting, which came a day after Obama said that Israel’s pre-1967 borders — with land swaps — should be the basis for negotiating peace with the Palestinians was tense. That meeting stoked Obama critics’ concerns that the president was inattentive to the interests of Israel and provided yet another data point of the two leaders’
Source:http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73617.html
“The United States will always have Israel’s back,” Obama said in the Oval Office ahead of a one-on-one Oval Office discussion with Netanyahu and an afternoon of more meetings.
Obama said his preference — and that of Netanyahu, Obama said — is for a diplomatic solution to Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear bomb, the president stressed that all options are on the table.
“I mean it,” Obama said.Obama said that the U.S. position on Iran’s nuclear program is prevention, not containment. “We understand the costs of any military action,” he said. “We are in constant and close consultation.”
Netanyahu took a more hawkish stance toward Iran.
“When it comes to Israel’s security, Israel has the right, the sovereign right to make its own decisions,” he said. “After all, that is the very purpose of the Jewish state, to restore to the Jewish people control over our destiny.”
Netanyahu stressed the countries’ many ties and years of friendship — and used this to argue that America and Israel are viewed as one to Iran and other enemies.
“We are you, and you are us. We’re together,” Netanyahu said.
Obama said he and Netanyahu would also discuss the stalled peace process, which has faded in urgency as the threat of a nuclear Iran intensifies, and plans to “potentially bring about a calmer set of discussions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and arrive at a peaceful resolution to that longstanding conflict. It is a very difficult thing to do in light of the context right now. But I know that the prime minister remains committed to trying to achieve that.”
“We do not want to see a nuclear arms race in one of the most volatile regions of the world,” Obama said.
Their last Oval Office meeting, which came a day after Obama said that Israel’s pre-1967 borders — with land swaps — should be the basis for negotiating peace with the Palestinians was tense. That meeting stoked Obama critics’ concerns that the president was inattentive to the interests of Israel and provided yet another data point of the two leaders’
Source:http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73617.html
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