More than half of the U.S. Senate has signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to re-emphasize his �readiness to take military action against Iran if it continues its efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon.� In New York, both Democratic Senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, signed the letter.

While Obama has stated that �all options are on the table� for the Iranian threat, his administration has repeatedly expressed that there remains �time and space� for tactics such as diplomacy and sanctions to work before resorting to a military option. Additionally, despite the requests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama has refused to set the �red line� which, if crossed by Iran, would prompt U.S. military action.

Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) initiated a letter signed by 57 senators stating that despite bipartisan work on �the most stringent sanctions ever against Iran� during the past four years, the Islamic Republic has �quintupled its stockpile of low-enriched uranium since 2009,� has more than doubled its number of centrifuges at the hardened Fordow enrichment facility since this summer, and continues �to reject the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency, including refusing to allow inspectors to visit sites where nuclear weaponization work is suspected to have occurred.�

The U.S., therefore, should �make use of all elements of our national power to pressure Iran,� the letter said, urging Obama to �work with our European and Middle Eastern allies to demonstrate to the Iranians that a credible and capable multilateral coalition exists that would support a military strike if, in the end, this is unfortunately necessary.�

Regarding a U.S. red line for the Iranian threat, Obama told rabbis from across the denominational spectrum in a conference call before Rosh Hashanah this year that �no leader wants to tie his hands� by setting such conditions. On the CBS �60 Minutes� program, he went on to describe Netanyahu�s calls for a red line as �noise.�

(Source: JNS.org)