Obama: World must pressure Iran before Israel launches attack

Democratic nominee says US must "tighten the screws diplomatically on Iran ... before Israel feels like its back is to the wall."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
The world must pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program before Israel feels that it must launch an attack on the Islamic Republic, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Monday at a campaign event in Iowa. "My job as president would be to try to make sure that we are tightening the screws diplomatically on Iran, that we've mobilized the world community to go after Iran's program in a serious way, to get sanctions in place so that Iran starts making a difficult calculation," Obama was quoted by Reuters as saying in response to a voter question. "We've got to do that before Israel feels like its back is to the wall," he said when asked if Israel felt that it had free reign to take action against Iran if the West did not convince Teheran to curb its nuclear ambitions. "I don't want to speculate on whether or not Israel feels like it has a green light or not because that would be speculation," he reportedly said. "What is not speculation is that we have to act much more forcefully and effectively on the world stage to contain Iran's nuclear capabilities."