When does Iran have to be stopped? In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Iran would cross a red line by next spring when it comes to nuclear weapons.
But it’s not clear that he has convinced Vice President Joe Biden or Rep. Paul Ryan that his timeline is right.
Last night’s debate moderator, Martha Raddatz, asked Ryan whether, after taking office, a Romney administration would be able to move fast to prevent Iran from crossing this red line within only two months.
Here’s what Ryan had to say: "We can debate the timeline,whether it’s that short a time or longer. I agree that it’s probably longer."
Biden, for his part, seemed to differ with Netanyahu’s emphasis on enrichment, focusing instead on whether or not Iran had developed a weapon to put enriched uranium into.
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Referring to the Iranian bomb illustration that Netanyahu presented at the U.N. General Assembly, Biden said: “We will not allow the Iranians to get a nuclear weapon. What Bibi held up there was: when they get to the point where they can enrich uranium enough to put into a weapon. They don’t have a weapon to put it into. Let’s all calm down a little bit here. Iran is more isolated today than when we took office.”
It’s not clear precisely who Biden was suggesting should calm down.
Romney, earlier in the week, said that he had the same "test" on Iran as Netanyahu, namely that the Islamic Republic not be allowed to get a nuclear weeps "capability," but he also said that "we have a long way to go before military action may be necessary."
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