WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said on Thursday that Iran is still “over a year or so” from developing a nuclear bomb, warning that a military option remained on the table if sanctions and diplomacy fail to thwart its nuclear ambitions.
In an interview with Israeli television channel on Thursday, a week before visiting Israel, US President laid out a clear timeline for Tehran to acquire a military nuclear capacity, while insisting that Washington would not wait until the last minute to take action to stop it.
“We think that it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously, we don’t want to cut it too close,” Obama said.
Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West will be high on the agenda during Obama’s first presidential trip to the Israel that will kick off on March 20, where he faces a tough challenge trying to narrow his differences on the matter with the right-wing prime minister. Obama is also scheduled to visit the Palestinian territories.
In his address to the United Nations in September, the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set a “red line” of spring or summer for when Iran would be close to weapons capability, suggesting prospects for an Israeli attack around that time.
But Iran’s latest talks with world powers, plus adjustments in Tehran’s uranium enrichment processes, are widely thought to have pushed back that deadline.
DND
