Netanyahu: Iran Could Have Bomb Next Summer

Benjamin Netanyahu made good on his promise to demand that the world draw a "clear red line" to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, reports AP. In his speech at the UN today, the Israeli leader:

• Said Tehran is less than a year away from a nuclear weapon. "Iran is 70% of the way there and ... well into the second stage. By next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage. From there it is only a few more weeks before they have enriched enough for a bomb."
• "I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down—and it will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy," he added. "Red lines don't lead to war—red lines prevent war."
• Weird visual aid: Netanyahu apparently wanted to make his point in simple fashion, because he held up a not-so-sophisticated drawing of a bomb with lit fuse. The New York Times called it "cartoonish," and the Washington Post and Reuters both called it "cartoon-like." Your first reference to Boris Badenov from Rocky and Bullwinkle is at Daily Intel.

• Mahmoud Abbas: In his speech before Netanyahu, the Palestinian president accused Israel of "a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people via the demolition of their homes" in East Jerusalem. In his subsequent speech, Netanyahu rejected the "libelous" charge.

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