NEW YORK, N.Y.—The morning after issuing another passionate defence of Israel and sharply rebuking Iran, Prime Minister Stephen Harper sat down Friday with his Israeli counterpart to discuss the “danger the Iranian regime ultimately presents to us all.”

Harper and Benjamin Netanyahu met in a tiny hotel room in midtown Manhattan to delve into the Iranian situation the day after the Israeli prime minister urged the world to draw a “red line” to stop the Iranians from building a nuclear bomb.

“Our country has not been shy about warning the world of the danger the Iranian regime ultimately presents to all of us,” Harper said in brief remarks in front of a crush of Canadian cameras before the men held their private, 30-minute discussion.

“We want to see a peaceful resolution and we work closely with our allies to try to alert the world to the danger this presents and the necessity of dealing with it.”

Netanyahu praised Harper for his recent decision to close the Canadian embassy in Tehran.

“I think what you did, severing ties with Iran, was not only an act of statesmanship but an act of moral clarity,” he told the prime minister.

“The fact that you took such clear, decisive steps is a great example to be followed by other nations, many of which attended a conference in Tehran and said nothing.”

He added to the assembled Canadian media: “He’s a great champion of freedom and a great friend of Israel.”

Sitting against a backdrop of Canadian and Israeli flags, Netanyahu also reiterated what he told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.

The world must put into practice its attempts to stop Iran from enriching enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon, he said.

“And that means setting red lines on their enrichment process. It’s their only discernible and vulnerable part of their nuclear program. If such red lines are set, I believe that Iran will back off.”

In front of a VIP-packed American audience on Thursday night, Harper took a swipe at the United Nations and assailed Iran while picking up an international statesman award.

After skipping speaking at the United Nations General Assembly again this year, Harper suggested the UN has too often wooed dictators despite their appalling human rights records and sinister aims.

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