Tensions Mount Ahead of Netanyahu Speech

At WSJ, "Before Key Speech, Netanyahu Hails U.S. Ties":

WASHINGTON—American and Israeli leaders publicly traded words of admiration Monday, but tensions surrounding U.S. talks with Iran over its nuclear program mounted on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s speech to Congress, where he will urge lawmakers to thwart President Barack Obama ’s top foreign-policy initiative.

As both sides searched for conciliatory language, Mr. Netanyahu described the U.S. as “family,” and Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, emphasized America’s “bedrock commitments” to the state of Israel.

But the rhetorical embraces, in speeches before 16,000 members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, came as Mr. Netanyahu prepared to make his biggest attempt to scuttle a potential deal with Iran. The Israeli leader, who opposes any Iranian nuclear-enrichment capability, laid bare his distrust of the Obama administration’s effort. He said the issue was a matter of U.S. “security,” but of Israeli “survival.”

He added that “Israel and the United States agree that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, but we disagree on the best way to prevent Iran from developing those weapons.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama said Monday there remains “substantial disagreement” between his administration and Mr. Netanyahu. As world powers resumed talks with Iran in Geneva in hopes of meeting an end-of-March deadline, Mr. Obama also said the U.S. wants a final agreement requiring a partial freeze of Iran’s nuclear program for at least 10 years...

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