NETANYAHU ASKS UN TO DRAW RED LINE ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR BOMB PLANS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exhorted the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to draw "a clear red line" to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

In a theatrical gesture, Netanyahu held up a cartoon-like drawing of a spherical bomb and drew a red line below the fuse, "before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment to make a bomb," he said.

 

"It's not a question of whether Iran will get the bomb. The question is at what stage can we stop Iran from getting the bomb," said Netanyahu, who also accused Iran of aggression.

"I ask, given this record of Iranian aggression without nuclear weapons, just imagine Iranian aggression with nuclear weapons," the Israeli prime minister said.

"Who among you would feel safe in the Middle East? Who would be safe in Europe? Who would be safe in America? Who would be safe anywhere?"

But Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told CNN that his country won't be influenced by a threat from Israel and a demand from U.S. President Barack Obama to abandon plans to acquire nuclear weapons.

Iran's president talks Israel, slams homosexuality "When we say we do not take it seriously, we mean that it impacts -- it does not impact our policies in the slightest," Ahmadinejad told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview to be aired Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern.

 "Iran is a vast country. It's a great country. Let's assume a few terrorists come and assassinate some of our officials. Will the country be damaged? No. A couple of bombs will be set to explode.

Will the country be destroyed? No. "We see the Zionist regime at the same level of the bombers and criminals and the terrorists. And even if they do something -- even if they do something, hypothetically, it will not affect us fundamentally," Ahmadinejad said.

The White House highlighted how Obama sided with Israel in his speech before the general assembly this week.

"As the prime minister said, the United States and Israel share the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," said spokesman Tommy Vietor of the National Security Council.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Netanyahu for more than an hour later Thursday, a senior State Department official said.

Clinton and Netanyahu talked at length about Iran and agreed to continue "close consultation and cooperation toward achieving" the goal of stopping Iran from getting atomic weapons, the official said.

 Source: CNN..More...