Romney's Israel Speech: Iran will be 'Highest National Security Priority'

This article, written by Joshua Mitnick, appeared on The Christian Science Monitor on July 29,2012

In a signal foreign policy speech in Jerusalem, former governor Mitt Romney said that preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon should be the "highest national security priority," and chided President Barack Obama for quarreling with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to do it.

However, the presumptive Republican nominee for president offered few hints on what he would do differently from the Obama administration. Though a senior adviser, Dan Senor, earlier suggested that Mr. Romney would "respect" an Israeli decision to launch a lone attack, Romney in his speech reiterated the more vague formulation of the Obama administration that "we recognize Israel’s right to defend itself."

He did reproach the president indirectly for chastising the Israeli leaders for saber rattling, a remark made when Mr. Netanyahu last visited Washington.

"It is sometimes said that those who are the most committed to stopping the Iranian regime from securing nuclear weapons are reckless and provocative and inviting war," Romney said. "The opposite is true. We are the true peacemakers."

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