US President Barack Obama did what few people expected him to do at the recent conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a hawkish pro-Israel group. He chose that moment to shift his strategy from out-hawking the hawks (which is next to impossible) to outsmarting them.

He refused to yield to the pressure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and AIPAC on the Iranian nuclear issue. Israel, like the US during the George W. Bush administration, considers a nuclear capability in Iran to be a “red line.” Israel argues that the only acceptable guarantee that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon is for Iran to have no uranium enrichment program.

The Obama administration puts the red line not at enrichment, which is permitted under international law, but at actual nuclear weapons. This definition is clearer, more enforceable and  also has the force of international law behind it.

Netanyahu’s red line is a fast track to an unnecessary and counterproductive war. That is why the US military and Obama so adamantly oppose it — because it would cause not only war, but most likely a nuclear-armed Iran down the road.