Netanyahu insists Iran is bent on going nuclear, will tell US that Israel won't warn of attack

This evening, in an Amsterdam synagogue, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Iran had decided to become a nuclear state, and urged action before it was too late to stop Iran completing the construction of a nuclear weapon. "Iran must never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon. Period," he said.  His statement at the conclusion of a brief state visit to Holland gave Gen. Martin Dempsey, on his first visit to Israel as Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, a clear message to take back to President Barack Obama. His statement belied the comment of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who two days ago asserted that Iran had not yet decided whether to build a nuclear bomb and that "Israel is still very far from a decision on attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.

Panetta went on to say that Defense Minister Barak contacted him and asked to postpone the joint US-Israeli drill "for technical reasons." But DebkaFile corrected an earlier claim that the US initiated the postponement, now claiming that the move was initiated by Netanyahu. He instructed Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz not to deviate in their talks with Gen. Dempsey from the position he took with the US president, namely, no commitment for advance notice to Washington about a unilateral strike against Iran.

Israeli officials say Washington is once again signaling its willingness to go back to direct nuclear negotiations with Tehran, even though past experience has shown that Iran exploits diplomatic dialogue to buy time for advancing its nuclear ambitions.