• Obama at UN: "A Nuclear-Armed Iran Is Not a Challenge that Can Be Contained"
  President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday: "Understand America will never retreat from the world. We will bring justice to those who harm our citizens and our friends, and we will stand with our allies."
      "In Iran, we see where the path of a violent and unaccountable ideology leads....Just as it restricts the rights of its own people, the Iranian government continues to prop up a dictator in Damascus and supports terrorist groups abroad. Time and again, it has failed to take the opportunity to demonstrate that its nuclear program is peaceful, and to meet its obligations to the United Nations."
      "America wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe that there is still time and space to do so. But that time is not unlimited....Make no mistake, a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained. It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations, and the stability of the global economy. It risks triggering a nuclear-arms race in the region, and the unraveling of the non-proliferation treaty. That's why a coalition of countries is holding the Iranian government accountable. And that's why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."  (White House)
• Ahmadinejad Tells UN "Uncivilized Zionists" a Threat to Iran - Colum Lynch
  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, denounced military threats against Tehran by "uncivilized Zionists" and attacked Western leaders as handmaidens of the devil. (Washington Post)
      See also Text: Ahmadinejad at the UN - 2012 (Iran UN Mission)
      See also U.S. Boycotts Ahmadinejad's Speech at UN - Mark Hughes (Telegraph-UK)
      See also Canadian Delegation Walks Out of Ahmadinejad's UN Speech - Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail-Canada)
• Bill Clinton: Iran Cannot Be Trusted with Nuclear Program - Piers Morgan
  Former President Bill Clinton discussed Iran in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. "What they [the Iranians] are really saying is, 'in spite of the fact we deny the Holocaust, we threaten Israel, we demonize the United States, and we do all this stuff - we want you to trust us. In spite of the fact that we won't cooperate with the international regime set up to avoid an arms race in the Middle East and set up to avoid nuclear proliferation, we want you to trust us.' So they don't have a tenable position."
      Asked, "Do you trust Ahmadinejad?" Clinton replied, "Not on this I don't....No serious person believes" Ahmadinejad's explanation of Iran's stance on nuclear weapons. (CNN)
• Egypt: No Need to Amend Treaty with Israel
  A spokesman for Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi said Wednesday that there is currently no need to amend the peace treaty with Israel, despite calls in Cairo to revise the 1979 accord to allow the country to beef up its presence in Sinai to combat militants there, the state news agency reported. Yasser Ali said Egypt now has the troops it needs in Sinai to restore security. (AP-Boston Globe)

• Netanyahu: "Those Who Have Wanted to Wipe Us Off the Map Have Failed"
  Prior to his departure on Wednesday evening to address the UN in New York, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "On the eve of Yom Kippur, which is sacred to the Jewish People, the Iranian tyrant - before the whole world - chose to publicly call for our disappearance....History has proven that those who have wanted to wipe us off the map have failed."  (Prime Minister's Office)
• U.S., Israel Working Together to Set Iran Red Lines
  Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Israel Radio on Thursday that Israel and the U.S. are engaged in a dialogue over setting a red line for Iran's nuclear program. Ayalon added that the gaps between Israel and the U.S. over the Iranian nuclear threat are constantly narrowing. (Jerusalem Post)

• A Flimsy U.S. Sanctions Policy toward Iran - Andrew K. Davenport and Ilan Berman
  Given the advanced state of Iran's nuclear program, it stands to reason that the full arsenal of U.S. economic and financial sanctions would be deployed against the Iranian threat. Yet it has not been. The reality is that current sanctions policy is simultaneously extensive and flimsy. It amounts, in large part, to labeling a broad array of business activity as "sanctionable." But with the exception of a handful of cases, the actual sanctioning of violators has been markedly absent.
      Administration after administration has been reluctant to enforce sanctions against foreign companies with ties to Iran because of the diplomatic fallout that would invariably accompany such a decision. More often than not, the most egregious violators are companies headquartered in countries that are close U.S. allies or represent key strategic relationships for the U.S., such as China and Russia. (Washington Post)
• Abbas' Five Non-Options - Tal Becker
  At a time when the Middle East is in upheaval, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been pushed to the margins of the diplomatic agenda. The Islamist surge in the region has emboldened Hamas' political ambitions and is making Abbas' Fatah feel ever more isolated and anachronistic. The loss of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, and the Arab uprisings more broadly, have relegated Abbas to the back burner.
      The present volatile regional environment arguably renders the kinds of heart-wrenching decisions any peace agreement requires of any Palestinian leader exceedingly unpopular and politically out of reach, virtually regardless of Israel's position. The Palestinian president knows only too well that even modest compromises with Israel will have him labeled as a traitor to the Palestinian cause before core Palestinian and Arab constituencies. In the past, his calculation has been that Arab states could provide the legitimacy for a deal and act as a counterweight to public opposition. Presently, he harbors no illusion that this is possible.
      It is particularly unfortunate that much of the energy and promise that once surrounded the Palestinian state-building project has dissipated. A revitalized state-building campaign can make a tangible difference to the reality on the ground, and help insulate the West Bank from regional turmoil. The writer is an international associate of The Washington Institute. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)

Preventing an Iranian Nuclear Breakout: U.S.-Israel Coordination - Patrick Clawson and David Makovsky (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)

• The U.S. has apparently been unable to convince Israel that it would be able to both identify an Iranian dash to the nuclear weapons threshold and then act militarily in short enough order. At least a few Israeli leaders are concerned that despite its best intentions, the U.S. will not be able to act in time to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
• To show its determination to stop Iranian nuclear progress rather than allow interminable, unproductive discussions, Washington must establish benchmarks to be met in order for diplomatic negotiations to continue. Benchmarks offer a more effective alternative to a deadline, which would allow Tehran to stall until the last minute and then set out proposals that may seem attractive at first glance but are really unhelpful.
• The benchmark model is based on results, not the calendar, taking away Iran's ability to run down the clock. When diplomacy fails because Iran fails to meet the established benchmarks, more forceful measures will follow.
• The best way to improve the chances for a negotiated settlement is for the West to keep increasing the pressure on Iran. There is much wisdom in the quip that Iran does not respond to pressure; it only responds to great pressure.
• Tehran does not believe the U.S. and Israel will use all means available to prevent Iran from getting close to having a nuclear weapon. As a result, Washington and Israel must find better ways to demonstrate that they are prepared to take military action if needed. The U.S. and P5+1 focus should always be on stopping Iran's nuclear progress, not on preventing an Israeli strike.
  
  Patrick Clawson is director of research at the Washington Institute. David Makovsky is director of the Washington Institute's Project on the Middle East Peace Process.