WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel inserted himself into the most contentious foreign policy issue of the American presidential campaign on Tuesday, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike. As a result, he said, the administration has no “moral right” to restrain Israel from taking military action of its own. 
 
 Mr. Netanyahu’s unusually harsh public comments about Israel’s most important ally, which closely track what he has reportedly said in vivid terms to American officials visiting Jerusalem, laid bare the tension between him and President Obama over how to handle Iran. They also suggested that he is willing to use the pressure of the presidential election to try to force Mr. Obama to commit to attack Iran under certain conditions. 
 
 He appeared to be responding to a weekend statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States was “not setting deadlines” beyond which it would turn to a military solution. 
 
 Mr. Netanyahu, speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, said, “Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.” 
 
 In another sign of tensions, the Israeli Embassy in Washington said late Tuesday that the Obama administration had declined a request from Mr. Netanyahu’s office for a meeting with Mr. Obama when the Israeli leader attends the United Nations General Assembly this month. The Obama administration said the decision was due to a scheduling problem and had been conveyed to Israel long ago. 
 
 On Tuesday night, Mr. Obama called Mr. Netanyahu to try to calm the situation. The two talked for a full hour, hashing through the Iran confrontation and their misunderstandings. 
 
 “President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed that they are united in their determination to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and agreed to continue their close consultations going forward,” the White House said in a statement after the phone call. 
 
 The White House also tried to tamp down controversy over the request for a meeting, saying that after a possible New York encounter was ruled out, Mr. Netanyahu did not request a meeting in Washington. “Contrary to reports in the press, there was never a request for Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with President Obama in Washington, nor was a request for a meeting ever denied,” the statement said. 
 
 The United States says it has no evidence that Iranian leaders have made a final decision to build a bomb. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report says the country has amassed a stockpile of low- and medium-enriched uranium that, with further enrichment, could fuel as many as six nuclear weapons. 
 
 The United States concluded several years ago that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons development program at the end of 2003, though there has been evidence of sporadic work since. The Israelis say Iran is quietly reconstituting a much larger effort. 
 
 In demanding that Mr. Obama effectively issue an ultimatum to Iran, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to be making maximum use of his political leverage at a time when Mr. Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has sought to make an issue of what Mr. Romney says is the administration’s lack of support for Israel. 
 
 It is not clear what level of development in Iran’s nuclear program would constitute a “red line” in Israeli eyes. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a research institute, and a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview last week, “It is very important to draw a line about the quantities of enriched uranium and the levels of enrichment.” 
 
 One option that has been widely discussed among experts advising the United States government is capping Iran’s uranium enrichment at a reactor-grade level. Also, Iran would be permitted to stockpile no more than 1,764 pounds of that uranium, less than is required, if further enriched, to make a single bomb. ||||| Announcement follows Netanyahu declaration that those who don't place "red lines" on Iran, have no right to give Israel a "red light." 
 
 Netanyahu and Obama. Photo: Jim Young/ Reuters 
 
 For the first time since taking office, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is slated to visit the United States without meeting US President Barack Obama. The lack of a meeting later this month comes in the midst of roiling tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over setting red lines for Iran’s nuclear program. 
 
 Some have seen the absence of a face-to-face conversation as a further sign of strain in the relationship. 
 
 A White House official said he did not have a final schedule for the president for that week. His response left open the possibility that a lastminute meeting could be added to the agenda. 
 
 A request from Netanyahu’s office to meet with Obama in Washington as part of the prime minister’s trip to the United Nations in New York later this month was rejected for scheduling reasons, an Israeli official said Tuesday. 
 
 Netanyahu, however, is expected to meet with other senior US officials in New York, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 
 
 When asked about the White House’s refusal to schedule a meeting between Netanyahu and Obama, an official there noted that the two leaders would be visiting New York at different times. 
 
 News that the two might not meet came after tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over Iran burst into the open on Tuesday when Netanyahu attacked the US’s policy on Tehran at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with visiting Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Metodiev Borisov. 
 
 Netanyahu said that those who do not place “red lines” in front of Iran have no moral right to put a “red light” in front of Israel when it comes to military action. 
 
 Netanyahu’s words came in the wake of statements by Clinton on Sunday, and State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Monday, that the US had no intention of putting either red lines or deadlines in front of the Iranians. 
 
 Clinton said that the US was not setting deadlines, and Nuland expanded that by saying that it was “not useful” to be “setting deadlines one way or the other, red lines.” 
 
 Netanyahu, at the press conference with Borisov on Tuesday said that diplomacy and sanctions, which have hurt the Iranian economy, have not stopped the Iranian nuclear program. 
 
 “The fact is that every day that passes, Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear bombs,” he said. “If Iran knows that there are no red lines, if Iran knows that there are no deadlines, what will it do? Exactly what it is doing. 
 
 It is continuing without interference toward obtaining nuclear weapons capabilities and from there nuclear bombs.” 
 
 The world, Netanyahu said, tells Israel to wait and that there is still time. 
 
 “And I say wait for what? Wait until when? "Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.” 
 
 Iran must understand that there are red lines so it stops its nuclear program, he added. 
 
 While government officials have spoken anonymously in recent days and weeks of a frustration with US policy on Iran, these were the toughest public comments yet by the prime minister on the matter. 
 
 Since the beginning of the month, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that red lines needed to be established and that this was possibly one way to avoid the need for other action. 
 
 Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday night that his country had the right to act independently. 
 
 “Israel reserves the right and the responsibility to make decisions, as necessary, with respect to its security and future, and the US respects this,” he said. 
 
 “Despite the common purpose [between the two countries], there are certain differences between Israel and the US with regard to certain positions. But these are best dealt with behind closed doors.” 
 
 He added these differences should not detract from America’s role as Israel’s primary ally and friend in the international arena. 
 
 “Do not forget that the US is Israel’s main ally. We have intimate relationships in the intelligence field, and the US is Israel’s most important supporter in the security field,” Barak said. “The foundation of this relationship is a long-standing friendship and shared values between Israel and the American people. 
 
 In spite of the differences, and the importance of maintaining Israel’s right to act independently, we have to remember the importance of our partnership with the US. We should do everything possible not to harm it.” 
 
 US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday that his country was operating under a different timetable when it came to Iran. The US has more than a year to stop Iran should it decide to make a nuclear weapon, he said. 
 
 “It’s roughly about a year right now, a little more than a year,” the Pentagon official said on CBS’s This Morning program. He also provided assurance that the US could stop Iran. 
 
 “We think we will have the opportunity once we know that they’ve made that decision, [to] take the action necessary to stop [Iran],” he said, adding that the US had “pretty good intelligence” on Iran. 
 
 “We know generally what they’re up to. And so we keep a close track on them,” he said. 
 
 Furthermore, Panetta assessed that the US had the ability to keep Iran from constructing a nuclear weapon. 
 
 “We have the forces in place to be able to not only defend ourselves, but to do what we have to do to try to stop them from developing nuclear weapons,” he said. 
 
 Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz on Tuesday said he does not expect that Israel will take military action against Iran this year. Instead of making a decision on Iran, the opposition leader said, Netanyahu is busy subverting Obama. 
 
 Mofaz went on to accuse Netanyahu of meddling in the upcoming US presidential elections, which he described as “irresponsible behavior and an error that harms the fabric of relations with [Israel’s] biggest ally.” 
 
 Jerusalem’s relationship with Washington need not be sacrificed to eliminate the Iranian nuclear program, he added. 
 
 As recently as Sunday, during an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Netanyahu said the US and Israel were discussing red lines for Iran. 
 
 Netanyahu will be traveling to New York to address the Iranian issue at the UN General Assembly. He is scheduled to arrive in New York on Thursday morning, September 27, and fly back to Israel after Shabbat on September 30. 
 
 Since Obama is not scheduled to be in New York during this period the Prime Minister’s Office informed the White House that he would be willing to come to Washington for a meeting. 
 
 Diplomatic sources confirmed last night that there will most likely not be a meeting with Obama. 
 
 According to the sources, the White House said this was the result of scheduling problems. Obama’s schedule is full, with campaign events around the country in the run-up to the November 6 election. 
 
 White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said that Obama was not holding any bilateral meetings with foreign heads of state during his visit to New York on September 25 through 26. 
 
 Hilary Leila Krieger and Gil Hoffman contributed to this report. ||||| In a blistering response to a Sunday statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States is “not setting deadlines” for Iran to abandon its alleged weapons program, Netanyahu said that if no “red line” is established, Iran will continue to pursue an atomic bomb. 
 
 “The world tells Israel: ‘Wait. There’s still time.’ And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem. 
 
 The administration has pressed Israel to hold off on threatened military action against Iran and has refrained from directly issuing its own military threat, arguing that there is still time to achieve results through diplomacy backed by tightening economic sanctions. 
 
 Although international inspectors have cited continuing advances in Iran’s nuclear program and diplomatic negotiations have stalled, U.S. intelligence analysts believe that Iranian leaders have not yet made a political decision to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran has said its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy purposes. 
 
 Disagreement over meeting 
 
 Just hours after Netanyahu’s remarks Tuesday, U.S. and Israeli officials acknowledged that Netanyahu had sought a meeting with Obama when they both attend the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month. 
 
 “The White House informed Jerusalem that the meeting . . . won’t be possible due to the president’s agenda,” the Israeli Embassy in Washington said of a possible New York meeting. 
 
 The White House issued a statement saying that a meeting was impossible because “they’re simply not in the city at the same time.” Obama plans to depart New York immediately after his Sept. 25 address to the General Assembly, while Netanyahu will not arrive to deliver his speech until Sept. 27. Obama and Netanyahu, the statement said, were in “frequent contact,” and Netanyahu will meet with Clinton “and other officials.” 
 
 Obama, who will spend only one night in New York, does not plan to meet with any foreign leaders at the U.N. session, according to an administration official who spoke about the president’s schedule on the condition of anonymity. 
 
 In a further statement late Tuesday that indicated growing concern over the tensions, the White House said Obama and Netanyahu had spoken by telephone “for an hour tonight as part of their ongoing consultations.” It said they discussed “the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, and our close cooperation on Iran and other security issues” and “reaffirmed that they are united in their determination to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and agreed to continue their close consultations going forward.”
– President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu's relations have never been described as warm, and two developments today show they're not getting warmer: No meeting: Obama has turned down a request to meet with Netanyahu when he comes to the US later this month to address the UN. The White House says it just can't squeeze him in, which will mark the first time the prime minister has been shut out on a US trip, reports the Jerusalem Post. Fightin' words: In what the Washington Post describes as a "blistering" criticism, Netanyahu blasted the US and the West for being soft on Iran in regard to its nuclear program. "Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel." He was taking at dig at Hillary Clinton's comments over the weekend that "red lines" and "deadlines" weren't useful. Election at play? The New York Times says Netanyahu "appeared to be making maximum use of his political leverage at a time when Mr. Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has sought to make an issue of what he says is the administration’s lack of support for Israel."