BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that ‘the clearer the red line drawn before Iran by the international community, the smaller the chance of a conflict.’ Netanyahu also repeated his stance that the international community is not showing enough resolve regarding Iran’s nuclear programme.

Netanyahu’s comments follow a report yesterday from the New York Times, according to which US President Barack Obama is mulling a statement regarding the United States’ ‘red lines’ that if crossed, may trigger a US military response on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

According to the New York Times report, published yesterday, Obama is considering a series of overt and covert steps with the goal of convincing Netanyahu to hold off on an attack on Iran’s nuclear programme. The New York Times article also reported that the White House is currently holding an internal debate on how specific the public warning to Iran should be.

In related news, leaders of Israel’s intelligence community are set to give their annual briefing on Tuesday to the security cabinet. They are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear programme, the civil war in Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in Egypt.

Cabinet ministers will be briefed on the progress on Iran’s nuclear programme in general and its military aspects in particular. They will also be presented with intelligence assessments regarding whether or not Tehran has decided to begin enriching uranium to 80 per cent, the rate needed for nuclear weapons. One senior official has said the meeting is expected to last at least eight hours.

Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, director of Military Intelligence, is scheduled to make the first presentation. His counterparts will follow him from the Mossad and the Shin Bet intelligence service and by representatives of the Foreign Ministry. A follow-up meeting will most likely be held in several weeks’ time.