Obama: Iran ‘a year or more’ from nuclear weapon capability
Obama: Iran ‘a year or more’ from nuclear weapon capability – Alarabiya.net English | Front Page.
( Unbelievable……..! – JW )
President Barack Obama disclosed that U.S. intelligence agencies believe Iran continues to be a year or more away from building a nuclear weapon, an assessment that is at odds with Israel, which contends Tehran is on a faster course toward a bomb.
Obama, in an interview with The Associated Press, expressed optimism about the blossoming diplomacy between his administration and Iran’s new president, but said the U.S. would not accept a “bad deal” on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.
The president spoke to the AP on Friday.
Obama has launched a diplomatic outreach to Iran, aimed at resolving the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. Last week, he spoke by phone with President Hassan Rowhani, marking the first direct exchange between U.S. and Iranian leaders in more than 30 years.
“Rowhani has staked his position on the idea that he can improve relations with the rest of the world,” Obama said. “And so far he’s been saying a lot of the right things. And the question now is, can he follow through?”
But Obama said Rowhani is not Iran’s only “decision-maker. He’s not even the ultimate decision-maker,” a reference to the control wielded by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayotollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei said Saturday that some aspects of Rowhani’s trip to New York last month were “not appropriate,” but reiterated his crucial support for the president’s policy of outreach to the West.
The comments by Khamenei, summarized on his website, came after hard-liners criticized the 15-minute phone conversation between Rowhani and Obama.
Hard-liners, including commanders in the powerful Revolutionary Guard, have said the president went too far with the phone call in reaching out to the U.S.
But Rowhani’s outreach has received broad support from Iranian legislators and it appears popular at a time when Iran is facing crippling economic sanctions due to the nuclear impasse.
Khamenei also said the U.S. was “untrustworthy.” He has previously said he’s not opposed to direct talks with the U.S. to resolve Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West but is not optimistic.
Given Khamenei’s broad influence, some countries, most notably Israel, have questioned whether Rowhani actually represents real change in Iran or just new packaging of old policies.
Obama also put distance between U.S. and Israeli assessments of when Iran might have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. Israeli officials have said Iran is just months away from being able to build a bomb, while Obama said Tehran was a year or more away.
But Obama said, “Our assessment continues to be a year or more away. And in fact, actually, our estimate is probably more conservative than the estimates of Israeli intelligence services.”
The president used the same timetable in March, before traveling to Israel. The U.S. and Israel contend that Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at building a bomb, while Tehran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.
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WarSclerotic 
October 5, 2013 at 6:01 PM
Its more wishful Mr. O thinking, (if I stretch the meaning of that word) much easier from the ivory tower in DC as opposed to the streets of Jerusalem.
October 5, 2013 at 6:34 PM
I won,t repeat myself
October 5, 2013 at 7:00 PM
And we are supposed to believe this after his Syria flip-flop?
Standing Alone – Churchill 1940 – Netanyahu 2013
http://www.madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2013/10/standing-alone-churchill-1940-netanyahu.html
October 5, 2013 at 8:34 PM
Obama likes to think about the Iranians and their race to the Bomb as it would be in the Zeno’s Paradox.
Achilles, who was the fast runner back in the Antiquity, was never supposed to get The Tortoise; at start, the tortoise get an advantage of, lets say, 100 meters. After they start the race, no matter what the distance between those two will be, there is always a smaller distance to be run by Achilles, and that can continue indefinitely(Zeno’s Paradox, Achilles and The Tortoise). So Achilles, in accord with Zeno, can approach the tortoise indefinitely, yet he cannot get it, because there will be always a little more distance to be run by Achilles.( we can explain this paradox later, if anyone is interested).
Anyhow, Obama likes to think about the Iranian race to the Bomb like in the paradox above: the Iranians, on their race, will never get the Bomb, Obama is saying. You see, there will be always a little distance between them and the bomb, distance which the Iranians could not overcome. Like in the present situation, in which Obama is saying that one more year is between the Iranians and the bomb.
Only that the paradox above can be cracked and also this Iranian ”ever race” to the bomb, too. Eventually, the Iranians will ”jump” over the last obstacle and finally they will get that Bomb.
Yes, that will happen. Then Israel will show the proof to the world and then will be that war…
October 5, 2013 at 9:12 PM
October 5, 2013 at 9:19 PM
I HAVE TO DO THIS, SORRY JW
October 5, 2013 at 9:48 PM
JW,
It’s the same position Obama has held for the past 5 years – that Iran is a “year away”.
The clock never moves any closer than that for leftist appeasers like him.
Of course it’s helpful to remember that 1 year ago, his supporters like Jeffery Goldberg were constantly reminding us that if only Israel would wait a few months to increase the chance of Obama’s reelection that Obama would gladly deal with the problem himself.
Now we see that was not only a lie but he won’t even maintain the sanctions put in place in his first term!
And if Netanyahu needed any more confirmation that Israel is alone he got it when half of the UN seats were empty for his speech. I’m still in shock over that one!
October 5, 2013 at 9:51 PM
Perhaps my last comment on this blog, i have to say goodby to your all in case, and forgive me if my words where not clear to you.
I,am just a traveler in history old and new.
October 5, 2013 at 10:01 PM
In fairness I don’t believe half the stuff Netanyahu and the Israelis say about Iran anymore either.
Surely by now Israel’s red lines have all been breached and Iran has nuclear weapons. You just don’t see them admitting it publicly.
October 5, 2013 at 10:08 PM
To the people in Israel i wanna say this
October 6, 2013 at 2:09 AM
The writer turns to Netanyahu.
MK Moshe Feiglin
Moshe Feiglin is head of the Manhigut Yehudit [Jewish Leadership] faction in the Likud party and a new member of Knesset.
► More from this writer
This week we witnessed the collapse of the preconception that has guided Israel’s strategy for dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.
The preconception goes as follows: Iran threatens not only Israel, but the entire free world. Why attack by ourselves, pay a steep price and become the target of international criticism? Let us pass on the responsibility to the rest of the world, while reminding them that if the necessary measures are not taken, we will attack Iran. This is a win-win situation. If the world solves the problem for us, well and good. If not, we will at least enjoy international legitimacy for our own attack.
In reality, this strategy was not win-win; it was lose-lose. Today it is clearer than ever that the world does not intend to solve the Iranian problem, while the legitimacy for an Israeli attack has severely declined. Even worse is the fact that the technical military challenge has become much more difficult and complex because Iran has progressed with and fortified its nuclear facilities.
For years, I have been warning from wherever possible, particularly in this newspaper – that this preconception leads to disaster.
“Fine,” the world says to us today. “You convinced us. It really is our problem. Please sit quietly and allow us to deal with the problem as we see fit.”
Time and again I explained that even before the direct security threat, this preconception constitutes an essential danger for Israel, much deeper and more essential than the security menace.
The process of the destruction of the Jews that we know as the Holocaust – this is the historical example from which we must learn, and Netanyahu is correct in presenting the issue as such, despite the ridicule and scorn of his detractors – did not begin in 1939 with the start of World War II. The Holocaust began in 1933 when the leader of a large and important country was elected and from his Reichstag, announced his intention to destroy the Jews.
There is a bomb even more dangerous than any nuclear bomb: the bomb of de-legitimization.
The Jews had no way to react and the world stood by in silence. As a result, a question mark began to hover over the right of the Jews to exist. Later, when the opportunity to destroy them arose, this de-legitimization translated into the cooperation of the nations of the world; be it the active cooperation of the East or the passive cooperation of the West.
Yes, there is a bomb even more dangerous than any nuclear bomb: the bomb of de-legitimization.
When Ahmadinijad began to threaten Israel and proceeded with actual preparations to make good on those threats, the world was confused. It anticipated an Israeli reaction similar to its attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. For decades, we have been dragging every visiting VIP to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, pointing to what happens to Jews when they don’t have their own state to protect them and basing our State’s right to exist on this claim. That has been a mistake.
Just a reminder: We are in Israel to fulfill our destiny. We can likely defend our mere existence more successfully – elsewhere. Nonetheless, the survival claim has been Israel’s most fundamental doctrine throughout the years and is the basis for its justification for its existence.
Now, the moment of truth has arrived and in the face of this Holocaust-like threat, Israel has transferred responsibility back to the US and England; the very same countries that were careful not to bomb Auschwitz.
“Wait a second,” says the world to itself. “So everything that you have always said was just lip service? Now that you have a state, you still want us to protect you? If so, what do you need a state for? No great message has come out of Zion. You are just another ordinary western nation. And now you have placed your security concerns on our shoulders? Why do we need all the wars that you create?”
There is a clear correlation between the process of delegitimization that Israel has undergone in the last decade and its non-reaction to Ahmadinijad’s threats. Our lack of response to the construction of the physical bomb is the very factor that constructs the delegitimization bomb.
The interim conclusion from this analysis is that an Israeli military reaction in Iran would eliminate more than the physical bomb, and that possible targets do not necessarily have to include its nuclear facilities. The bomb is not the enemy and neither are the Iranian people. The octopus has a head. It is no coincidence that when Ahmadinijad visited Lebanon, he made a point to stand near the border with Israel, mockingly daring it to shoot him. He understood the Israeli preconception and the wide berth it afforded him.
The Prime Minister’s speech in the UN this week was brilliant – as always. But the question is if the preconception has changed. Today, it is clear to all that the US will not attack Iran. It is also clear that Iran will not stop or slow its nuclear development.
If so, what good are the speeches? Is the rhetoric – as good as it may be – coming from a mental state in which it can still help? Or is the opposite true, and the effort put into rhetoric calms us while ensuring that Israel remains ensnared in the erroneous preconception?
What is Netanyahu waiting for? No clear-cut red line will be crossed. The PM explained that in his UN speech. Was the speech crafted to end the preconception, or is it part of it?
If PM Netanyahu is preparing us for the termination of the preconception, he will go down in history as the leader who saved Israel from the threat of nuclear destruction. But if we are still captive to the preconception, we can expect the following:
The US will adopt a strategy of containment of a nuclear Iran. Slowly but surely, the discussion will evolve into dealing with Iran’s launching capabilities and not its possession of nuclear weapons. Israel will have no choice but to follow suit with the same strategy. In fact, I truly hope that we are not at that point already. Just as the government does not admit to the public that the Temple Mount is not in our hands, so it will not admit that Iran already has a bomb.
But in practice, it will try to build anti-nuclear-missile defense systems. Just as Rabin promised that there would be no rockets from Gaza and today we scramble to hunt down rockets over Bat Yam, so Netanyahu may be the prime minister who promised that Iran will not have a nuclear bomb, while the leaders who follow him will be forced to develop defense systems to eliminate nuclear missiles from the skies of greater Tel Aviv.
If Iran goes nuclear, it will revolutionize its dominance in the Mid-East and the world. We can only imagine what would have happened if Begin had listened to Peres, and Sadaam Hussein would have had nuclear capabilities when he invaded Kuwait. The ruler of a nuclear Iran will likely become the modern-day Salah-a-din, who will unite the Arab ‘states’ into a modern Islamic caliphate. This ‘friendly’ pax-Irania will surround Israel on all sides, the process of de-legitimization will accelerate and the abyss is the limit.
I turn to Prime Minister Netanyahu: Do not be the Israeli leader on whose watch this nightmare scenario becomes reality. The time for talking is over. As they say in America: If you want to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.
October 6, 2013 at 7:45 AM
Just assuming : If the goal of Mr BHO would be to drive the USA to the wall – if his goal would further be to drive the west to the wall and last assuming his goal would be to drive Israel to the wall…..
Would this fit to the present situation ?
Just asking : What kind of a person could have such goals ? Could this be someone who grew up in a western society ? Could this be someone with western mentality and ethics ?
Could someone please help me to understand how Mr. BHO got into the White House ?
October 6, 2013 at 8:09 AM
Just do a simple google on the net and see what really people think about Obama and who he is or represents. I myself wont write those things here, even though in certain occasions Mr. 0 is just …not so ok.
October 8, 2013 at 5:40 AM
Luis – you are right – the facts are available out there – all we have to do is to collect them and put them together. But the picture we get is so bad that many prefer to ignore the facts and try to live in their fictional world as long as possible – that means until the facts will hit their faces. I was again collecting information about the present US-president : its frightening, shocking and its proving to be fact daily by the confirming actions of this president and his followers.
As I see it today the USA is just an inch away from the stepping out of a totalitarian regime which goal is to destroy the present form of the USA – the coup d’etat has already happened when Mr. BHO took the White House. Sound the alarm – and then ?