Republican tells ABC, "red line is Iran may not have a nuclear weapon"; US official: Obama's red line is a nuclear weapon.
By JPOST.COM STAFFRepublican candidate Mitt Romney in Virginia 370 (R)(photo credit: Jim Young / Reuters)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney admitted that his "red line" on an Iranian nuclear program are identical to the stated policies of his political opponent, incumbent US President Barack Obama.In an interview with ABC, portions of which were published online Friday, interviewer George Stephanopoulos asks Romney if his "red line" is the same as Obama's."Yes," the Republican candidate answered."My red line is Iran may not have a nuclear weapon," Romney explained. "Iran as a nuclear nation is unacceptable to the United States of America."Romney did attempt to differentiating his proposed policies with Obama's, saying he thinks Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should have been indicted for incitation to genocide and that "crippling sanctions" should have been put in place immediately.He said he also would have stood with Iranian dissidents.Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threatObama has long stated that a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable, but has recently refused to classify any point along the path to nuclear proliferation as a "red line," something demanded of Western powers by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.Netanyahu and Obama held a late-night conversation last week after the prime minister said those countries who refuse to set red lines on Iran have no right to ask Israel not to attack the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.Netanyahu this week told The Jerusalem Post that it was "a good conversation."
A senior White House official told The New York Times on Friday that during their phone call, Netanyahu asked the president to set a red line based on the size of Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile. Crossing a red line would ostensibly trigger military action.Obama, according to the official's account to the Times, was unwilling to commit to Netanyahu's red lines.“We have a red line, which is a nuclear weapon," the unnamed official told the Times. We’re committed to that red line.”
