March 1, 2012 | Quote
Iran Further Complicates Relations between Obama, Netanyahu
Though the Israelis agree that stepped-up sanctions are starting to take a toll on Iran, they aren't working fast enough, says Mark Dubowitz, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative group that focuses its research on human rights and terrorism issues.
Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said in late January that the Iranian regime “so far” had not changed their behavior in the face of sanctions, but “as the pressure ratchets up, there is the prospect that they could change.”
“The Israelis are looking at a calculus where they are not really sure if Obama means what he says when he articulates over and over again that an Iranian nuke is unacceptable and the military option is always on the table,” says Dubowitz, who has advised the administration and Congress on sanctions against Iran. “If I were an Israeli, I would be much more worried about the Iranian regime than their hardware. I would want assurances from the president that he is not willing to bet the survival of Israel on the theory that this is a containable regime.”