US President Barack Obama says Washington will continue to explore diplomatic options to address Iran’s nuclear energy program, trying to distance himself from the excessive warmongering rhetoric against the Islamic Republic.
At a White House news conference on Tuesday, Obama said that his policy towards Iran was only aimed at preventing the country from producing nuclear weapons.
Obama added, “We have a window through which we can resolve this issue peacefully. We have put forward an international framework that is applying unprecedented pressure. The Iranians just stated that they are willing to return to the negotiating table. And we’ve got the opportunity, even as we maintain that pressure, to see how it plays out.”
He referred to ‘military action’ as yet an ‘alternative,’ but claimed he would explore it ‘when all else fails.’
Obama also slammed the Republican presidential candidates for their ‘blusters and big talk’ about a war with Iran, saying, “This is not a game, and there’s nothing casual about it.”
The US president said, “Those, who are suggesting or proposing or beating the drums of war should explain clearly to the American people what they think the costs and benefits would be. I’m not one of those people.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, suggested he would be more willing than Obama to consider the use of military force and his fellow GOP candidate, Rick Santorum, backed an ultimatum demanding Iran to stop its nuclear energy program.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program and have used this pretext to impose international and unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic as well as to call for a military strike against the country.
Iran has repeatedly refuted the Western allegations, arguing that, as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence of diversion in the country’s civilian nuclear energy program.
——-Agencies