Obama tries to soothe Israeli fears on Iran Netanyahu at the UN last week expresses his concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions President Barack Obama sought on Monday to alleviate Israeli anxieties about his new diplomatic outreach with Iran, insisting that he would still consider "military options" if he felt they were necessary to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Speaking alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Mr Obama said that his administration would enter "clear-eyed" into talks with Iran and would demand "the highest standards of verification." IN Middle East & North Africa Mr Obama was talking days after his historic telephone conversation with new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, the first such communication since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the most tangible sign of a possible diplomatic breakthrough over Iran's nuclear programme. Using language that he avoided when he spoke at the UN last week, Mr Obama said on Monday that "we take no options off the table, including military options, in terms of making sure we do not have a nuclear weapons Iran." With detailed negotiations between Iran and the six major powers due to start on October 15, it will be difficult for Mr Obama to pursue a deal if he faces open opposition from Israel and from many members of the US Congress. Mr Netanyahu, who is intensely sceptical about what he calls the "sweet talk" the new Iranian government has launched in recent weeks, urged Mr Obama to maintain sanctions and diplomatic pressure on Tehran. "If diplomacy is to work, those pressures must be kept in place," he said on Monday. If Iran continues to advance its programme during negotiations, the sanctions should be strengthened. His views are shared by many in Congress, where the House of Representatives has already passed a bill calling for more sanctions on Iran's oil sector, which the Senate is analysing. Amos Yadlin, a former general and head of Israeli military intelligence and director of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, warned in a research paper published on Monday that Mr Netanyahu should not "paint himself into a corner and become the obstacle to an agreement" with Iran. "Israel pressed long and hard for harsh sanctions: now that the sanctions have proven themselves as an effective tool for a possible agreement, Israel should not regret the option of solving the crisis by an agreement," Mr Yadlin wrote. Israel wants Iran to stop all uranium enrichment, remove enriched material, and suspend activity at its underground enrichment facility in Fordow, near Qom, and the heavy water plant at Arak. It fears that a compromise which falls short of its demands will leave Iran within easy reach of developing a nuclear weapons capability that would permanently alter the strategic balance in the Middle East and could in time also threaten other regions. Mr Netanyahu and his colleagues have been saying since 1991 that Iran is six months away from a nuclear weapon. And we are how many years, 22 years after that? Javad Zarif, Iran foreign minister Analysts in the Israeli media described Mr Netanyahu's trip to the US as a make-or-break moment for what he has described as the defining issue of his premiership. Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, dismissed the warnings from the Israeli government. "Mr Netanyahu and his colleagues have been saying since 1991 that Iran is six months away from a nuclear weapon," he said in an interview with ABC. And they are still saying we are six months away from nuclear weapons. About a dozen members of Iran's parliament visited Fordow on Monday in a clear move to endorse the enrichment activities at the underground site, which is expected to be immune from any Israeli air strikes. "The centrifuges have all been installed and uranium enrichment at 20 per cent purity is under way without any default," Esmaeil Kosari, an MP, said. He vowed Iran would never shut down Fordow, amid speculation that it could be one of the main demands of the major powers in future nuclear talks. Hossein Naghavi, another parliamentarian, said Iran could reconsider enrichment at higher levels - a coded way of saying enrichment at 20 per cent could be stopped. Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, suggested that a new round of US sanctions would not help the upcoming talks in Geneva. "I am not in the business of telling Congress what to do," she said on Monday, in response to a question about further sanctions. I would like to get to Geneva with the best possible atmosphere to really have these negotiations. And that means, in all sorts of ways, we need to show willingness and good faith to sit down and talk and expect the same in return. In an interview with CBS aired on Sunday evening, John Kerry, US secretary of state, said there was potential to reach a deal with Iran relatively quickly. Asked about the three-to-six-month timeframe raised by Mr Rouhani, Mr Kerry replied: "It's possible to have a deal sooner than that depending on how forthcoming and clear Iran is prepared to be." He added: "If it is a peaceful programme, and we can all see that, the relationship with Iran can change dramatically for the better and it can change fast." A CNN/ORC opinion poll released on Monday showed that 75 per cent of Americans favour direct negotiations with Iran to prevent it from securing a nuclear weapon, including 87 per cent of Democrats and 68 per cent of Republicans.