( CNN ) -- President Obama faces a delicate balancing act in trying to contain Israel from launching a military strike while compelling Iran to halt its nuclear ambition . How he plays his hand will be a true test of his ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat . Meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel recently , President Obama emphasized his strong preference for using sanctions and diplomacy , but he 's not ruling out military force as an option . For war to be avoided , Iran or Israel will have to back down from its current position . For the Obama administration , the outcome of Iran 's parliamentary elections provides an opportunity for furthering negotiations . Seen as a major test for the regime , the March elections resulted in a victory for the ultraconservative factions of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei . President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , whose supporters did not fare well at the polls , was weakened . After several years of internal division , the repudiation of Ahmadinejad consolidates Khamenei 's claims of unified support , giving him a freer hand to act and his parties a majority control in the parliament . However , many reformists boycotted the elections and candidates supporting Ahmadinejad were disqualified . Turnout was likely much lower than the 64 % that the government claimed . By most independent accounts , the election turnout was among the lowest in Iran 's history , signaling ebbing support for the hardline leadership . Iran 's election results , along with the strong rhetoric of the hawks from Tel Aviv , provide the Obama administration with a new but narrow opening to nudge Khamenei toward a compromise . While Iranian leaders remain defiant about their nuclear program , believing that a latent nuclear capacity is essential to the survival of the state , and hoping that the crippling impact of international sanctions would rally support to their cause , they do care about public opinion . They will be sensitive to the public 's resentment of sanctions . By reiterating U.S. commitment to non-interference in Iran 's domestic affairs ( read : no regime change ) and providing political and economic incentives for cooperation , the Obama administration could compel Khamenei to retreat from his pursuit of nuclear weapons . At the same time , the rise in President Obama 's electoral prospects in November puts him in a much stronger position vis-a-vis Netanyahu . With the Republican candidates in mutually assured destruction mode , and a slowly reviving economy , President Obama 's re-election chance has surged . It was an open secret that Netanyahu was strategizing with Republican heavyweights for regime change in the United States . Now it is more likely that Netanyahu is going to have to live with President Obama for another five years . While Netanyahu has no love for the president , the Israeli public knows that , in the end , they depend on the goodwill and support of the United States . As Time magazine reported on March 8 , 58 % of Israelis oppose a military strike on Iran without the support of the United States . Moving forward , the challenge for the Obama administration is to manage Israeli misgivings about the utility of an aggressive diplomatic approach toward Iran while simultaneously offering Iran a face-saving exit out of its defiant posture . Much like high-stakes diplomatic crises of previous eras involving nuclear weapons , such as the Cuban Missile Crisis , averting war depends as much on decisions made in Tel Aviv and Tehran , as it does on the ingenuity of American policymakers . If President Obama plays his hand well , he may be able to succeed at containing Israel 's military threat and compelling Iran to back down on its nuclear program . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nina Tannenwald and Hussein Banai .
Nina Tannenwald and Obama : President Obama faces a delicate balancing act . They say he has to persuade either Israel or Iran to back down from its current position . Obama and Tannenwald : Israel 's elections offer negotiation room for President Obama . They say President Obama 's electoral prospects give him an upper hand in dealing with Iran .