Obama: When it comes to Iran “I don’t bluff”

President Barack Obama says he means it when he insists it’s unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. “I don’t bluff,” Obama said in an interview published Friday.

In his most expansive remarks on the issue, Obama told The Atlantic magazine that Iran and Israel both understand that “a military component” is one of a mix of many options for dealing with Iran, along with sanctions and diplomacy.

Obama plans to meet Monday at the White House with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and will try to convince Netanyahu to postpone any plans his government may have to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in coming months.

The president said he won’t advertise any U.S. plans for Iran. At the same time, Obama has consistently refused to renounce a military option for U.S. strategists. “I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff,” he said in the interview. “I also don’t, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are.

But (both) governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.” Obama also warned that a premature strike might inadvertently help Iran: “At a time when there is not a lot of sympathy for Iran and its only real ally (Syria) is on the ropes, do we want a distraction in which suddenly Iran can portray itself as a victim?” Obama also rejected as unreasonable a more limited policy of containment in confronting Iran’s nuclear efforts.