• Published 20:04 20.09.10
  • Latest update 20:04 20.09.10

Obama says military action against Iran not ideal

U.S. President claims military action is an option but army commanders warn of region destabilization.

By Reuters and The Associated Press Tags: Iran nuclear Barack Obama Israel news

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that Iran having a nuclear weapon would be a "real problem" but he did not think military action by Israel or the United States was the "ideal way" to solve the crisis.

President Obama White House 9/16/10

President Obama speaking at the White House 16/9/10

Photo by: AP

The United Nations Security Council, along with the United States and the European Union, have imposed tougher sanctions on Iran, which has defied international calls for it to halt uranium enrichment.

Iran says it needs the enriched uranium for the peaceful generation of electricity, but the United States and its allies, including Israel, fear Tehran's nuclear program is a cover to build an atomic bomb.

"We continue to be open to diplomatic solutions to resolve this," Obama told a town-hall style meeting on CNBC.

"We don't think that a war between Israel and Iran or military options would be the ideal way to solve this problem. But we are keeping all our options on the table," he said.

U.S. military commanders have also warned that U.S. or Israeli military strikes against Iran could spark retaliatory action by Tehran and proxy groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza strip that could destabilize the region.

Iran vowed in August 2010 that it would deliver a "crushing response" to Israel and the United States should either attempt to attack the Islamic Republic over its contentious nuclear program.

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  • 4. 0 97
    maybe not ideal, but the lesser of two evils for sure
    • Ron
    • 20.09.10
    • 20:53

    or does he want a north korea in the ME. doing as they please sincethey have neuclear weapons and as a result do not fear retaliation.

  • 3. 93 0
    Littl' propaganda show
    • Skeptic Dude
    • 20.09.10
    • 20:51

    Not ideal indeed Mr. President. In fact, I would call it impossible. If there are any rational thoughts still alive in this morbidly obese empire, those should remind that the US are hanging by a thread as the main power of the globe. Should one US missile fall on Iranian soil, and we would undoubtedly see the end of US presence in the Middle East (including Turkey). Personally speaking, I think Iran craves for such a scenario. The nuclear program would not be destroyed, and Iran would benefit from overwhelming sympathy from the Arab streets, forcing all regimes in the region to declare themselves friends of Tehran...

  • 2. 0 47
    Russia can solve the Iran problem all by herself
    • Logios
    • 20.09.10
    • 20:41

    There is something self-contradictory in Russia's behavior. On the one hand she objects to Iran enriching Uranium even to the low 3.5% level for power plants, and on the other hand supplies Iran with such processed product which allows Iran to keep her stock of Uranium. A good solution for the contradiction would be for Russia to demand from Iran partial payment "in kind" for future reactors it will build, that is, pay for the fuel rods by giving to Russia the enriched Uranium used to produce them. This should be acceptable to Iran, after all, they claim that their Uranium is enriched to serve as fuel. The fact is that Iran does not have enough Uranium to run many power plants, so they will run out of the stuff soon enough. Problem solved.

  • 1. 0 79
    Obama will not do anything....
    • 20.09.10
    • 20:40

    to weaken the new world order he intends to push on the Americans and the Israelis. He wishes to give the reigns of power to people even less enthusiaticly pro American and pro Israeli than himself