Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on CBS News's Face the Nation on Sunday that Tel Aviv might act against Iran before the United States does.
"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," the Israeli prime minister said.
Netanyahu also said Iran is edging up to what he called a red line.
"They're edging up to the red line. They haven't crossed it yet," he said.
On September 2, 2012, Netanyahu called on the international community to set a “clear red line” for Iran over its nuclear energy program.
On September 24, US President Barack Obama said in response that the issue concerned US national security decisions, and that he was “going to block out any noise that's out there.”
The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran in order to force the Islamic Republic to halt its uranium enrichment program, which Washington and Tel Aviv claim includes a military component.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
