PM: Iran strike won't come in days, but not matter of years

Netanyahu tells Channel 2 he "hopes pressure on Iran will work," rendering military attack against nuclear facilities unnecessary, but says not pulling trigger on strike may endanger Israel's existence.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
PRIME MINISTER Binyamin Netanyahu 390 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
PRIME MINISTER Binyamin Netanyahu 390
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the timeline of a potential attack against Iran in an excerpt of a Channel 2 interview aired Thursday, saying an attack would not come in "a matter of days or weeks, but it's also not a matter of years."
Netanyahu emphasized that an attack against Iran is not a foregone conclusion, and that a diplomatic solution to the threat of Iran's nuclear program may still be found.
"I hope that the pressure on Iran will work and we can peacefully convince them to tear down their nuclear program," the prime minister stated.
Netanyahu admitted that having to decide whether to launch a military strike against Iran was a great responsibility, saying that if the correct decision was not taken, there might not be a future generation to which he would have to explain his decision-making process.
The prime minister's turn to the Israeli media after his recent trip to the United States in which he met with US President Barack Obama also included an interview with Channel 10 which was aired in part on Thursday.
In the Channel 10 interview, Netanyahu addressed the harassment scandal surrounding former Prime Minister's Office chief of staff Natan Eshel, saying the charges against him were "very harsh."
Eshel resigned last month from his post after admitting to misconduct after other senior PMO officials brought charges against Eshel for harassing a female staffer.
The prime minister said while he thought the staffers who broke news of Eshel's relationship with the female staffer to the attorney-general's office "acted well," they should have approached Netanyahu first.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat