ALL OUR ALLIES ARE UNDER OUR UMBRELLA...:

"The United States can afford to have Iran as a near-threshold nuclear power. And Israel is saying it can't. And that's related to the very different security circumstances of the US and Israel,"Indyk said during a panel discussion at the Institute for National Security Studies' annual conference in Tel Aviv. "Instead of having an argument about that, the United States should enter immediately into discussions with Israel about a nuclear guarantee for Israel."

Such an arrangement would take the form of a bilateral treaty, Indyk explained.

"It would require legislation and I believe it would pass pretty much unanimously," he said.

The guarantee would commit the US to take some sort of action should Iran cross a certain threshold, though Indyk did not say exactly what the specific contours of such a deal would take.

Also known as nuclear umbrellas, guarantees are often used by nuclear-states as a promise to protect smaller allies.

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