Netanyahu to urge Obama to threaten Iran

But Mr Netanyahu now wants him to set the threshold for military action lower, according to officials in his government, by bringing it in line with Israel’s “red lines”.

These are set well before Iran actually acquires a bomb and would call for an attack if evidence emerges that Tehran has gained the industrial capacity and scientific knowledge to build a nuclear weapon.

Senior US officials have taken the unusual step of publicly advising Israel against launching unilateral air strikes and the White House has indicated that Mr Obama will not bow to Israeli pressure and make any policy shift.

“Our policy remains exactly what it was,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “We are committed, as Israel is, to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.” He added that the United States still believes there is “time and space” for recently toughened sanctions against Iran to work.

US intelligence agencies believe that Iran remains some years away from being able to build a nuclear weapon that can actually be fired, an assessment shared by Israel.

Many in the Israeli security establishment, however, believe that Iran could reach a “zone of immunity” within months by transferring the bulk of its nuclear material to the Fordow enrichment plant near Qom, which is buried deep into a mountainside, making it difficult to strike from the air.

An opinion poll meanwhile showed that a large majority of Israelis either oppose an Israeli strike on Iran or would favour an attack only if it was carried out with US agreement. The survey by the University of Maryland and the Israeli Dahaf Institute found that 34 percent of the 500 people surveyed believed that Israel should not strike Iran and 42 percent said it should attack only if the United States backed the decision. Nineteen percent believed Israel should attack even without the support of Washington.

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