President Barack Obama pushed back on the notion that he feels pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the contentious Iranian issue, dismissing as “noise” the Israeli leader’s calls for the U.S. to lay out a “red line” that Iran’s nuclear program must not cross to avoid American military intervention.

“When it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people,” Obama told CBS’ 60 Minutes, in an interview aired the night before he was to with other world leaders at the United Nations. “And I am going to block out any noise that’s out there.”

In the interview, Obama defended his foreign policy record at a time of anti-American rage in the Muslim world, firing back at suggestions from Republican nominee Mitt Romney that the president has been weak with allies and enemies alike.

“If Gov. Romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so,” he told CBS.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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