Obama's and Netanyahu's competing red lines for an attack on Iran

At issue is that the United States and Israel disagree on what the trigger or “red line” should be for striking Iran’s nuclear program. The Israelis seek to destroy Iran’s ability to manufacture an atomic weapon, whereas President Obama has pledged only to stop Iran from making a weapon…

This disagreement between allies has been brewing for nearly a year. As Newsweek reported last month, Israel stopped sharing key military planning data on Iran with the United States last summer. And while the exchanges have resumed, Israel is still keeping a “top layer” of data to itself…

Israeli prime ministers on two occasions—Iraq and in Syria—have attacked nuclear programs without the explicit permission of the United States. Israeli prime ministers also have disobeyed explicit requests from U.S. presidents on other issues such as the Israeli decision to leave troops inside Palestinian cities in 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield…

But Eiland added that in the case of Iran, it’s different. “The Iranian case is different because the American vital interest might be affected,” Eiland said. “To do something against an American explicit request is much different. Besides the operational risks that are very high and the general security risks. We are taking a real political risk that no Israeli prime minister can take.” Eiland said, however, that such a risk would be present only “as long as the American ‘no’ is as explicit as I described.”