Obama also told The Atlantic that, if necessary, he will order the U.S. military to destroy Iran's nuclear program if it refuses to forgo the means to making nuclear weapons. "I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff," Obama said in an interview. "I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are," Obama added. "But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say."
Obama meets with Netanyahu on Monday, the day after the president addresses the pro-Israeli lobbying group AIPAC. As reported by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, Obama said "all options are on the table" with regard to Iran, but the "military component" is the last one. Obama said sanctions have put Iran into a "world of hurt," and could force it to change its nuclear plans.
A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable because it would increase the threat to Israel and trigger an arms race in an already-volatile region of the world. Another goal of Monday's meeting at the White House: Smoothing the sometimes rocky relationship between Obama and Netanyahu. Obama said he and the prime minister "can be very frank with each other, very blunt with each other, very honest with each other. For the most part, when we have differences, they are tactical and not strategic."
Obama also disputed Republican claims on the campaign trail that he has not been sufficiently supportive of Israel. "Every single commitment I have made to the state of Israel and its security, I have kept," Obama told the Atlantic. "Why is it that despite me never failing to support Israel on every single problem that they've had over the last three years, that there are still questions about that?"
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