Posted on 05/22/2008 10:58:27 AM PDT by Dawnsblood
The United States should increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran to counter its rising influence, while retaining possible military action as a "last resort," a top U.S. military officer said on Thursday.
Gen. David Petraeus, President George W. Bush's nominee to oversee military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, told the Senate that current international pressure on Iran already appears to be "affecting the Iranian energy market and may convince Tehran to focus on longer-term, less malign interests."
Petraeus, currently the U.S. commander in Iraq, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a confirmation hearing on his nomination to become head of U.S. Central Command.
"We should make every effort to engage by use of the whole of government, developing further leverage rather than simply targeting discrete threats," Petraeus said in written answers to advance questions from the committee.
"At the same time, we should retain, as a last resort, the possibility of a range of military actions to counter Iran's activities," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Military force in Iran is the only resort.
I thought military force was always the last resort.
I think Iran stops developing nukes without war.
I don’t agree with you.
Iran will continue this process until and unless the world develops the balls to stop them
I don’t see any sign of that happening.
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