In the midst of the crises going on in Syria and Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit up the Sunday shows to remind the international community not to overlook the other red line concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions — the measure of Iran’s nuclear progress over which Israel does not intend to allow them to cross, and will use whatever means necessary to do so. “There are many important issues that we have to deal with and I have a sense that there is no sense of urgency on Iran and yet Iran is the most important and the most urgent matter of all,” he said on Face the Nation:

I think we’ve spoken many times, President Obama and I about the need to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. I know that is the U.S. policy. What is important to convey to them, especially after the elections, that that policy will not change and that it will be backed up by increasingly forceful sanctions and military action. In my view, there is a new president in Iran. He believes — he’s criticizing his predecessor for being a wolf in wolf’s clothing. His strategy is be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Smile and build a bomb. He brags about the fact that he talked to the Europeans while completing a nuclear conversion plan. I think they can’t be allowed to get away with it. They’re getting closer and closer to the bomb, and they have to be told in no uncertain terms that will not be allowed to happen. I think it’s important to understand that we cannot allow it to happen. You know, our clocks are ticking at a different pace. We’re closer than the United States. We’re more vulnerable and therefore we’ll have to address this question of how to stop Iran, perhaps before the United States does.

Netanyahu urged the U.S. to “ratchet up the sanctions and make it clear to Iran that they won’t get away with it. And if sanctions don’t work, then they have to know that you will be prepared to take military action” — and he in turn made clear that Israel won’t be waiting around until it’s too late to do something about it. …And I don’t think that’s just talk, either:

Israel on Friday conducted a rocket engine test that was reported by local news organizations to likely be for one of its Jericho ballistic missiles, Agence France-Presse reported.

“This morning, Israel conducted a launching test from the Palmachim base of a rocket propulsion system,” the Israeli Defense Ministry announced in a released statement.

The intermediate-range Jericho missile can hit targets as far away as 3,100 miles, which brings Iran well within striking distance.