Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met in New York on Friday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The two made statements to the press, during which Netanyahu thanked Harper for his recent decision to sever ties with Iran.
“I want to express my pleasure at seeing Stephen Harper again. He's proved he's a real statesman, and Stephen, I think that what you did, severing ties with Iran, was not only an act of statesmanship, but an act of moral clarity,” said Netanyahu.
“We've heard Iran talk about destroying Israel, even now, here at this current round of the UN General Assembly, and the fact that you took such clear, decisive steps is a great example to be followed by other nations, many of which attended a conference in Tehran and said nothing.
“I tried to say something yesterday, that I think reverberates now around the world, as you just told me, and that is to translate the agreement and principle of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons to practice. In practice, that means setting red lines on their enrichment process. It's their only discernible and vulnerable part of their nuclear program.
“I think that if such red lines are set, I believe that Iran will back off...I also hope to take some minutes to discuss it with you as a great champion of freedom, and a great friend of Israel.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded by telling Netanyahu, “It's always wonderful to see you again and I look forward to discussing these very critical issues, obviously, our bi-lateral issues but some of these global issues. I spoke last night, certainly our country has not been shy about warning the world about the danger that the Iranian regime ultimately presents to all of us. As you know we want to see a peaceful resolution of all this and we work closely with our allies to try and alert the world to the danger this presents and the necessity of dealing with it.
“I look forward to discussing that with you, and our shared values,” he added.
The meeting between the two leaders comes a day after Netanyahu’s speech to the UN, during which he drew an actual red line with a marker on a chart symbolizing Iran's uranium enrichment program, and explained that Iran must be told that if it reaches enough uranium enriched to the 90% level in order to make a nuclear bomb, it will be attacked.
The Obama administration remained unimpressed after Netanyahu’s speech, and officials in made it clear that the United States still opposes placing a red line for Iran.
Late on Thursday night, Netanyahu held a 75-minute one-on-one meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"They had an in-depth discussion on Iran, and reaffirmed that the United States and Israel share the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," a senior State Department official said in a statement.
“They agreed that we will continue our close consultation and cooperation toward achieving that goal.”
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)