Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Draws Red Line for Iran

As he addressed delegates at the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York Thursday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a chart drawn in the shape of a fuse-bomb—and sectioned according to various stages of uranium enrichment—to make his point against the treat of Iran’s nuclear program.

Netanyahu, pointing a red marker to the top of the bomb-like chart then said: “Where should a red line be drawn? A red line should be drawn right here … before Iran completes a second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb.”

He said the UN sanctions against Iran do not work and have no effect on Iran’s nuclear program.

But a new Israeli government report seems to undercut that rhetoric, suggesting that economic sanctions are hitting Iran harder than previous believed.

Reporter Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem says Israel’s foreign ministry’s internal document, leaked to the press, shows that the sanctions are crippling Iran’s economy more than ever.