POTUS

Obama: 'I Don't Bluff' on Iran

Warns U.S. could take military action on nukes.

Days before his upcoming talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama warned that the U.S. could take military action to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. "I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff," Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, emphasizing that he will try to persuade Netanyahu, whom he is meeting in Washington on Monday, to postpone any plans of a preemptive military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. He stressed that the U.S.-Israel strategy will be to convince Iran to "take [nuclear weapons] off the table" in an effort to solve the nuke issue "permanently, as opposed to temporarily." But he will reassure Netanyahu that, under his leadership, the U.S. "has Israel's back" and that he will consider military action if economic sanctions don't force Tehran to shelve its nuclear ambitions.