US presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared that Jerusalem will be the capital of Jewish state of Israel.
He further called it will the US’ “solemn duty of US and a moral imperative” to stop Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.
The Presidential Elections hovered over the speech, with the Old City forming a made-for-television backdrop behind Romney, while some of his campaign donors listened to him in the audience.
In his remarks, Romney steered clear of overt criticism of President Barack Obama, even though he has taken on the present administration in the past for not doing enough to prevent Iran from potentially developing nuclear weapons.
“If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the former governor massachusetts would respect that decision,” Romney’s senior national security aide Dan Senor told reporters travelling with the candidate.
The stand contradicts US President Barack Obama’s attempts to convince Israel to avoid any pre-emptive attack.
Urging for a “strong and credible” military threat to deter Iran from acquiring nuclear capability, Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Romney that diplomacy and sanctions levelled against the Islamic Republic of Iran have failed to bring desirable results.
In his speech, Romney said Syrian President Bashar Assad “desperately clings to power” in Damascus in the face of an attempted overthrow, but he did not call for his removal.
He noted that Egypt is now heading towards an “Islamist President, chosen in a democratic election. … The international community must use its considerable influence to insure that the new government honours the peace agreement with Israel that was signed by the government of Anwar Sadat” more than three decades ago, he said.
Tehran is closer to developing nuclear weapons capability than before, Romney said. “Preventing that outcome must be our highest national security priority.”
In an unspoken rebuttal to Obama and other critics, Romney said, “It is sometimes said that those who are the most committed to stopping the Iranian regime from security nuclear weapons are reckless and provocative and inviting war.”
–PTI