FEATURED: U.S. considers new message on Iran

Cross-posted from Wall Street Journal

"Complaints from Israel about the U.S.'s public engagement with Iran have pushed the White House to consider more forcefully outlining potential military actions, and the 'red lines' Iran must not cross, as soon as this weekend, according to people familiar with the discussions," reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Israeli officials have been fuming over what they perceive as deliberate attempts by the Obama administration to undermine the deterrent effect of the Jewish state's threat to use force against Tehran by publicly questioning the utility and timing of such strikes," the paper reports.

President Barack Obama could use a speech on Sunday before the policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to more clearly define U.S. policy on military action against Iran in advance of his meeting on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though he more likely may do it in private instead of in his speech.

Netanyahu and other Israelis are furious at comments by senior U.S. officials that have cast Israel as the problem, not Iran, and only encouraged Tehran to press ahead with its nuclear program by casting doubt over the West's willingness to use force. "Israeli officials were particularly alarmed when Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described Iran as a 'rational actor' in a CNN interview after a recent visit to Israel."

The article states: "'The Israelis are unnerved,' said Sen. Lindsay Graham (R., S.C.), who was one of five U.S. senators who had lunch with Mr. Netanyahu last Tuesday in Jerusalem. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who also was in the meeting with Mr. Netanyahu last week, said he had never seen an Israeli leader 'that unhappy.'"

by Carol E. Lee and Jay Solomon