BICOM

US President Barack Obama convinced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give international sanctions on Iran more time, according to Washington sources cited in the New York Times yesterday. According to the report, communication on the issue between the administrations has improved. Obama recently told NBC that, “I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on its nuclear weapons programme.”

The New York Times added, however, that US and Israeli officials remain at odds over when Iran’s key nuclear facilities will reach what Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has called a “zone of immunity.” Israel feels it necessary to stop the nuclear programme before Iran moves key facilities to impregnable sites, which will then make it impossible to stop Iran breaking out to weapons capability. They are particularly concerned about the new enrichment facility being installed under a mountain in Qom, which is coming online within the next few months. According to the New York Times, US officials believe there would be other ways to stop Iran, even after the Qom facility goes operational.

In related news, a report to be issued next month by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear programme is expected to be harsher than the last one released in November 2011. That document provided the basis for tougher international sanctions, including the EU oil embargo. The upcoming report will apparently include new details about efforts by Tehran to develop a warhead for a ground-to-ground missile. The IAEA will meet Iranian officials in Tehran from February 20 to 21, and the agency’s board of governors will meet in Vienna on 5 March.