- Dec 29, 2008
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'US policy is to prevent Iran nuc... JPost - Diplomacy & PoliticsWASHINGTON US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clarified Wednesday that Washington is committed to preventing Iran from having the capability to make nuclear weapons, not only from their actual construction.
Its absolutely clear that the presidents policy is to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons capability, she told the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, when asked whether the US would allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state, short of actually building nuclear weapons.
The drawing of a red line with Iran, particularly between having a nuclear weapons capability and having an actual nuclear weapon, is a significant point of discussion between the US and Israel.
Israel would like to see a red line drawn sooner in the nuclear weapons process than many have perceived the US has been willing to do.
that Israel would seek the more explicit and public drawing of such red lines when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets with US President Barack Obama this Monday, coinciding with their participation in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Washington conference.
When Clinton was asked Wednesday about Americas willingness to make such a public declaration, she responded, Its probably smarter for us to be pressing on the sanctions and the negotiations while we keep our objective of no nuclear capability absolutely clear, instead of setting other benchmarks at this time publicly.
The US and Israel have been involved in intensive discussions in preparation for the two leaders parley next week, which is expected to focus largely on Iran.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been in Washington this week meeting with his counterpart Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as well as Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and other top military and intelligence officials in consultations ahead of Netanyahus trip.
When Netanyahu comes to Washington next week, it is reported that Obama will press him to not attack Iran's nuclear weapons program yet, and Netanyahu will press Obama to declare at what point the US will be willing to use military force, the Israelis doubting that Obama's declaration that all options are on the table means that the US actually has a red line that will precipitate the use of force.