FM: US, Israel agree on stopping Iranian nuke

In Washington, Lieberman praises US measures against Tehran's nuclear program in meetings with Clinton, McCain.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday said that he and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were in agreement on most of the issues raised in their meeting Tuesday in Washington.  Most importantly, he said, "there is understanding and agreement that Iran must be prevented from getting a nuclear weapon."

Israel and the world should monitor the effects of the sanctions already put in place, and thank the United States for its recent efforts to levy new sanctions on the Islamic Republic, the foreign minister told Israel Radio. Iran, he said, is looking for ways to transfer money despite the sanctions and "we need to limit their ability to operate in the banking system."

On Tuesday, during his first official visit to Washington this week since 2010, Lieberman thanked Clinton for the “very important message” recent sanctions on Iran have sent.

He spoke of the significance of further sanctions against Iran in his meetings at the State Department and on Capitol Hill.

“The measures that were taken in the last weeks sent a very important message to the entire region,” he told Clinton, according to a statement put out by the Foreign Ministry.

Later, standing alongside Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), Lieberman welcomed “the very crucial decision regarding sanctions” taken by the United States.

Asked by reporters whether those sanctions were sufficient, McCain answered, “Obviously not, because Iran has not renounced their path towards the acquisition of a nuclear weapon.”

He also addressed the issue of Syria – declaring that the “blood-letting’s got to stop” and suggesting the US “start considering all options, including arming the opposition” – and noted the discussion with Lieberman would also touch on other regional concerns including Egypt.

But the main issue under consideration during Lieberman’s Washington tour was clearly Iran, which comes amid escalating sanctions and rhetoric as Tehran races on with its nuclear program in defiance of international demands, as well as increasing speculation that Israel might launch a military strike later this year.

That focus was underscored by House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), when she said during their meeting the two of them would “talk about Iran, and Iran,” and later “Iran” some more.

“At this critical time, we must support our ally Israel and stand strongly and unequivocally with Israel in addressing the threats to both our nations. Supporting Israel goes beyond rhetoric,” she said in a statement put out ahead of their meeting. “It means applying crippling sanctions and other pressure to stop Iran before it achieves a breakout nuclear capability.”

Speaking as the committee gathered with Lieberman, Ros- Lehtinen said she was eager to hear how long Lieberman predicted it would be before Iran had achieved nuclear “break-out capacity,” and also to see whether he believed that the US and Israel were on the same page about how best to deal with Tehran’s nuclear efforts.

She also criticized the Obama administration for offering “conflicting assessments” about the US “red line” when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program.

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Jan Brewer Share Tense Tarmac Moment,President Obama, Arizona Gov.

Longstanding tension between Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic President Barack Obama flared into the public spotlight Wednesday just after Air Force One touched down in Phoenix.

Brewer, who was on the tarmac to greet Obama, hand-delivered a letter before engaging the president "intensely" for several minutes, including pointing her finger directly at him, according to Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, acting as a pool reporter for other media outlets.

Accounts from both camps later said the terse talk focused on Brewer's book - "Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border."

The book, which was released in November, describes a June 2010 Oval Office meeting between Obama and Brewer aimed at diffusing conflicts surrounding Arizona's controversial state immigration law and the administration's immigration policy.

At the time, the White House called it a "good meeting," while Brewer's staff said it was "cordial."

But Brewer paints a much different picture in her book.

Brewer complains in "Scorpions for Breakfast" that she and her staff were treated coldly by White House aides, prevented from taking pictures in the holding room outside the Oval Office and that their cell phones and cameras were  "confiscated" by Secret Service.

"Too bad we weren't illegal aliens, or we could have sued them," she writes.

During her meeting with the president, Brewer said Obama was "condescending" and professorial, "lecturing" on his efforts to promote comprehensive immigration reform.

"It wasn't long before I realized I was hearing the president's stump speech," she said. "Only I was supposed to listen without talking. Did he care to hear the view from the actual scene at the border? Did the opinions and observations of the people of Arizona mean anything to him? I didn't think so."

"He was patronizing," she said. "Then it dawned on me: He's treating me like the cop he had over for a beer after he bad-mouthed the Cambridge police, I thought. He thinks he can humor me and then get rid of me."

Obama raised his objections to Brewer's account face-to-face with the governor Wednesday.

"He was a little disturbed about my book," Brewer told reporters after the meeting broke. "I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt."

Obama told Brewer "that he didn't feel that I had treated him cordially," Brewer said. "I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn't get my sentence finished.

"Anyway, we're glad he's here. I'll regroup," she added.

A senior administration official later told reporters that Obama's comments were in response to Brewer's request for another one-on-one meeting.

"The governor handed the president a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The president said he'd be glad to meet with her again, but did note that after their last meeting, a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book," the official told reporters, on condition of anonymity.

Brewer, who said in her letter to Obama that she wanted to discuss "Arizona's comeback" with him, did not attend the presidential event at a Phoenix factory today. But she did make several subsequent media appearances to talk about her tarmac encounter.

In an interview with KFYI radio in Phoenix, Brewer said Obama was "somewhat thin-skinned and a little tense, to say the least."

"I was very surprised.  I was taken aback.  I really was," she said.  "I was shocked by the sternness of it all."