United States: Republican and Democratic senators have separately said that the United States may ultimately have to undertake a military strike to deter Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but that it should be the last resort.
"That is the last option. Everything else has to be exhausted, but to say under no circumstances would we exercise a military option - that would be crazy," John McCain (Rep) said yesterday on CBS's Face the Nation.
Evan Bayh (Dem), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there were elements of Iran's nuclear programme which, if attacked, "would dramatically delay its development".But that should not be an option at this point, he said.
"We ought to use everything else possible to keep from getting to that juncture," he said on CNN's Late Edition.
Iran says it aims only to make power for energy, not build atom bombs. However, it hid nuclear work from the UN nuclear watchdog agency for almost 20 years before exiled dissidents exposed it in 2002.
Iran said yesterday that only diplomacy, not threats to refer it to the UN Security Council, could defuse a standoff over its nuclear work and it warned that any Western push for sanctions could jack up world oil prices.
Mr McCain called the nuclear standoff "the most grave situation that we have faced since the end of the Cold War". "We must go to the UN now for sanctions," he added.
Iran is the world's fourth biggest exporter of crude oil and the second biggest in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Experts and officials say it may be impossible to destroy its nuclear programme because much of it is underground and dispersed at numerous sites.
In addition, they say an attack could further inflame anti-Americanism in the Middle East and prompt Tehran to interfere more in Iraq and encourage Islamist groups to launch new attacks on the West. - (Reuters)