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U.S. and Israel Share a Goal in Iran Talks, But Not a Strategy

(New York Times) Jodi Rudoren and David E. Sanger - While Washington and Jerusalem have the same stated goal of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, there is a growing chasm over what might be the acceptable terms for an agreement. Netanyahu's new mantra is "distrust, dismantle and verify," and in an interview with NBC News he insisted on "a full dismantling of Iran's nuclear program." Obama has not recently used the word "dismantle" in his own public comments. Instead he has simply said that Iran must prove its program is peaceful in nature. That decision not to declare publicly that Iran must destroy much of what it has built "really riled the Israelis on their trip," according to one former senior American official who met with some of them. There is also a continuing divergence on how far Iran is today from developing a bomb. Netanyahu has chosen an aggressive interpretation of the evidence, that Iran is a few weeks or months from producing a weapon, while the White House maintains it remains a year or two away.
2013-10-04 00:00:00
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