Netanyahu: Israel has right to defend itself against Iranian nuclear threat

Netanyahu: Iran suspectible to pressure

NEW YORK — Israel reserves the right to defend itself against a nuclear threat from Iran, but the Islamic Republic’s inner turmoil and weakened economy make it susceptible to pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

Speculation has been rife that Israel might attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent archenemy Tehran from producing the atomic bombs it denies it is trying to build.

“I think the best thing to do is to apply what I think Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called crippling sanctions on Iran,” Netanyahu told ABC television.

“The regime is susceptible to it,” he added. “The sooner we do it, the sooner we’ll find out and the less will be the need to take stronger actions.”

Asked at what point Israel would not be able to live in the shadow of a nuclear Iran, Netanyahu replied, “I’m not going to deal in hypotheticals. Of course, every country reserves the right of self-defense and Israel is no exception.”

He said in a separate interview with CNN that he supports the U.S. position that “all options are on the table.”

On Sunday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Israeli officials had assured him they were not planning a military strike on Iran.

Israel considers Iran to be its most dangerous enemy and rejects its claims that it is not building nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated warnings of Israel’s demise and denial of the Nazi Holocaust have only deepened the enmity between the two.

Israeli officials intend to boycott Ahmadinejad’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly, an event that has drawn Netanyahu and members of his Cabinet to New York this week.

In 1981, Israeli warplanes crippled an unfinished reactor that Iraq was building. An attack on the Iranian program would be more complicated because facilities are scattered and some are underground.