Israel warns White House not to trust Iran overtures

JERUSALEM – Mortified that the world may be warming up to Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking an unpopular message to the White House and the United Nations this week: Don’t be fooled by Tehran’s new leadership.

Netanyahu contends Iran is using conciliatory gestures as a smoke screen to conceal an unabated march toward a nuclear bomb.

He will deliver those strong words of caution – and fresh intelligence – in an attempt to persuade the U.S. to maintain tough economic sanctions and not allow the Islamic republic to develop a bomb or even move closer to becoming a nuclear threshold state.

With the White House cautiously optimistic about its dialogue with Iran, today’s meeting between Netanyahu and President Barack Obama could be tense.

“I will tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and the onslaught of smiles,” Netanyahu said before boarding his flight to the U.S. on Sunday.

The Israeli prime minister contends Rouhani’s outreach is a ploy to ease international sanctions and buy time. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

While U.S. officials are aware of Israel’s concerns, they say there are no plans to reverse the diplomatic push.

Two senior Obama administration officials said the U.S. expects Israel to be skeptical about Iran’s overture, and that the U.S. is similarly skeptical.

Obama will try to convince Netanyahu that the U.S. won’t consider lifting sanctions until Iran takes concrete actions to show it is serious about a verifiable, transparent agreement, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

Obama’s bottom line remains that Iran can’t be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, the officials said.