Romney voices aggressive stance on Iran

30 Jul 2012, 12:33 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says he'd respect an Israeli decision to make a unilateral military strike against Iran.

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US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would respect an Israeli decision to make a unilateral military strike against Iran aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear capability, a top foreign policy adviser says.

Romney, who was expected to outline the aggressive posture he will take towards Iran in a speech in Israel later in the day, has said he has a "zero tolerance" policy toward Iran obtaining the capability to build a nuclear weapon.

"If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing the capability, the governor would respect that decision," foreign policy adviser Dan Senor told reporters ahead of the speech, planned for late Sunday near Jerusalem's Old City.

Senor said Romney is careful to note the governor believes preventing nuclear "capability" - not just a nuclear weapon - is critical.

He later clarified his comments in a written statement, saying: "Gov. Romney believes we should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course, and it is his fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded".

US President Barack Obama has also affirmed the right of Israel to defend itself, but in contrast to Romney, Obama has warned of the consequences of an Israeli strike on Iran.

"Already, there is too much loose talk of war," Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March.

"Now is the time to let our increased pressure sink in and to sustain the broad international coalition we have built."

Pentagon officials have spoken publicly about the difficulty of such a strike and American officials have expressed concern about the destabilising effect such military action could have in the region, even if carried out successfully.

Romney, like Obama, believes the option of a US attack should also be "on the table".

He has said he will do "the opposite" of what Obama would do in his approach to Israel.

"Make no mistake: the ayatollahs in Tehran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object, and who will look the other way," Romney plans to say later Sunday in a speech in Jerusalem.

"My message to the people of Israel and the leaders of Iran is one and the same: I will not look away; and neither will my country."

The Obama administration hasn't ruled out the military option, but Obama has so far been relying on economic sanctions and diplomatic negotiations to discourage Iran from building a nuclear bomb.

For its part, Iran says it is not interested in nuclear weapons and its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian purposes.

The Israelis are considering a strike because they fear Iran could be moving its nuclear enrichment sites further underground, out of reach of the weapons Israel has available.

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Your Comments

God help us all if Romney is elected. War and more war

Mona - from Australia, 11 months ago

The US does have vast nuclear capabilities, a warhead for every major city on this planet. Even torture they justify. "A military police officer at Guantanamo Bay under oath cites the abuses he says he saw there. He cites one incident where "a detainee was pretty much beaten to a bloody pulp, until his cell, his cage was stained with his own blood.” What right do they have to denounce Iran! They created this enemy with decades of foreign policy that supported human rights abuse, Fear America!

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