Washington: President Barack Obama has said that he would order the US military to destroy Iran`s nuclear programme as a final option, if economic sanctions fail to compel Tehran to shelve its nuclear ambitions.
"I don`t bluff," Obama said delivering his most explicit threat to Tehran to keep away from nuclear weapons, warning that "all options are on the table" and that the final option is the "military component." At the same time, the US president also warned Israel against a premature attack on Iran, cautioning Tel Aviv that any hasty military attack might inadvertently help Tehran to portray itself as "victim".
The tough comments yet on the Iranian nuclear issue came ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I also don`t, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognise that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say," Obama told `The Atlantic` magazine in an interview last night. "I think that the Israeli government recognises that, as president of the United States, I don`t bluff."
PTI