Obama Vows to Destroy Iran’s Bomb

Every Middle East specialist has closely read President Obama’s interview in Atlantic Magazine. To them, its contents reveal the essence of the speech that he will give on Sunday before the AIPAC, the U.S. pro-Israeli lobby. According to general opinion, this is the most overt warning to date. Expert analysis states that Barack Obama is granting credibility to the military threat. Making it so clear that the U.S. will, if necessary, destroy Iran’s bomb, marks a change of approach. Until now, the West has been pursuing two different paths: talks and sanctions. Now, Obama has added a third: sanctions, talks and, should they not prove effective, military strikes. We are one step away from an ultimatum, according to one expert. If Iran does not take heed of this, then Obama will have to go for it.

Some think it’s a smart move. In the short term, Obama has freed himself from the pressure caused by Netanyahu’s visit to Washington with his list of “red line” demands and conditions for negotiations. In fact, the objective of the U.S. is to buy time, as the vice-president’s diplomatic adviser Anthony Blinken — unwisely? — confided (given the elections in Iran and the Nowruz celebrations, the West is not planning on responding to Iran’s offer to reopen negotiations for several weeks.) In announcing that the U.S. will destroy the sites, Obama has pulled the rug out from under Netanyahu and put the pressure back on him. The Israeli prime minister could, with difficulty, secure acceptance of going it alone, having obtained a semi-guarantee from the United States.

On the domestic front, Obama has got himself off the hook concerning accusations of not being hawkish enough over Iran, and in such a way that can be maintained until the November elections. Republican candidate Rick Santorum, when asked about the interview in Atlantic, welcomed the president’s tone, before immediately adding: “I’d like to see some signs that he isn’t bluffing.” The Republicans criticize the Obama administration for “outing” Israel, to quote Santorum, basically the manner in which the Americans, lead by the Secretary of Defense, have let their allies and the media know that the Israelis were planning military strikes in the spring and that they were having difficulty in holding them back.

There are a few discordant murmurs. Steve Clemons accuses Obama of shamelessly wooing the “pro-Israeli community” in the US (an expression used by the president) and of complaining that he is so unpopular in Israel —albeit somewhat less than before — even in spite of all of the evidence of his support. In general, exasperation is beginning to mount among American commentators at the arrogance with which Netanyahu treats the president of the United States….