"OBAMA IN INDIA ON CURB OF NUCLEAR WEAPON"-Tue Nov 9, 2010

"OBAMA IN INDIA ON CURB OF NUCLEAR WEAPON"

By Jeffrey Heller

NEW ORLEANS | Tue Nov 9, 2010 8:11am IST

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the West on Monday to convince Iran that it would be willing to take military action to prevent Tehran from producing nuclear weapons.

Addressing a U.S. Jewish conference, Netanyahu said economic sanctions had failed to curb Iran's nuclear program and only a credible threat of military action could dissuade the "tyrants of Tehran" from gaining an atomic bomb.

"The only time that Iran suspended its nuclear program was for a brief period during 2003 when the regime believed that it faced a credible threat of military action against it," he said.

"The simple paradox is this: If the international community led by the United States hopes to stop Iran's nuclear program without resorting to military action, it will have to convince Iran that it is prepared to take such action."

Israeli political sources quoted Netanyahu as making similar comments to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in a meeting on the sidelines of the conference on Sunday.

However, Biden said after the talks that the sanctions "have a bite" and were having a "measurable impact," though he expressed frustration that Tehran had brushed aside overtures by the Obama administration.

The West believes that Iran aims to use its uranium enrichment program to build atomic weapons, which Iran denies. Both Israel and the United States have said all options remain on the table to deal with its nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu, who began a five-day U.S. visit on Sunday, also repeated a call to the Palestinians to resume direct peace talks suspended over Israeli settlement construction on occupied land they seek for a state.

NEW YORK MEETINGS

Netanyahu spoke to a packed hall of North American Jewish leaders at an annual conference but his speech was disrupted five times by a number of pro-Palestinian hecklers who shouted "stop the occupation." They were removed by security officials.

Netanyahu will meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York on Thursday to discuss ways to revive the peace negotiations. President Barack Obama is overseas, on a trip to Asia.

"If you want to live peacefully next to us, come and negotiate peace with us. Palestinian leaders who genuinely want peace should stop placing preconditions and start negotiating peace," Netanyahu said.

The talks, which began in Washington on Sept. 2, are in limbo over Palestinian demands for a freeze of Israeli settlement construction and Netanyahu's refusal to reimpose limits on building in settlements in the occupied West Bank.

A top Palestinian official said on Thursday the Palestinians would give the United States several more weeks to try to relaunch direct peace talks with Israe