Natanz Nuclear Facility in Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared Sunday on Fox News and made it clear that he sees President Barack Obama as the key actor in international efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program: “There’s only been one time that Iran actually stopped the program and that was when it feared U.S. military action. So when the president says that he is determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and that all options are on the table, I think that’s the right statement of policy.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu has made halting Iran’s nuclear program his highest priority since the moment he took office last year. Although the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations received the bulk of media attention during Netanyahu’s July 6 meeting with President Obama, the Iranian nuclear issue undoubtedly was high on the agenda.

Netanyahu knows that time is running out on western efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program through diplomacy and sanctions. If Tehran is not dissuaded from continuing on its present path. then Netanyahu soon must make a decision on whether Israel should take military action to postpone, if not stave off, the emergence of Iranian nuclear capability.