Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting with Biden in New Orleans, said that although sanctions have hurt Iran, Tehran will be determined to produce nuclear weapons unless it thinks a military strike is a real option, the media reported, citing unidentified Israeli officials.
However, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking in Australia on Monday, said military action against Iran remains an option but it is not the only way to stop it from building a nuclear bomb.
Israel, like the West, disputes Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not bombs.
In the past, it has said it prefers to block the Iranian threat through diplomacy, though it has not ruled out a military strike.
Israel sees Iran as its fiercest threat because of its nuclear program, its ballistic missiles capable of hitting the Jewish state and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated references to Israel’s destruction.
