Obama’s Iran Promises: Security or Votes? � Commentary Magazine

Obama’s Iran Promises: Security or Votes? � Commentary Magazine: Given the problems a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran would entail, these assurances might be enough to dissuade the Netanyahu government from acting on its own. But given the contradictory signals the administration has been sending about the use of force on Iran and the differences between the two countries over intelligence on the threat that Lake reports, there is little reason for Jerusalem to be comforted by Obama’s promises. Israel’s leaders would be well advised to see this latest shift on Iran as intended more to convince American voters of the president’s good intentions than to make Tehran step back from the brink.

Obama’s pledges to Israel lack credibility for a number of reasons.

U.S., Israel Discuss Triggers for Bombing Iran’s Nuclear Infrastructure - The Daily Beast

U.S., Israel Discuss Triggers for Bombing Iran’s Nuclear Infrastructure - The Daily Beast: Matthew Kroenig, who served as special adviser on Iran to the Office of the Secretary of Defense between July 2010 and July 2011, offered some of the possible “red lines” for a military strike in a recent Foreign Affairs article he wrote. He argued that the U.S should attack Iran’s facilities if Iran expels international nuclear weapons inspectors, begins enriching its stockpiles of uranium to weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, or installs advanced centrifuges at its main uranium-enrichment facility in Qom.