Obama Warns of Costs of Premature Attack on Iran, Unilateral Military Action on Syria a Mistake
Hours after meeting with "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Barak Obama urged patience on Iran stating that diplomatic solution is still possible.
In a special press conference Tuesday, Obama told reporters that he "believes that a window of opportunity in which diplomatic means vis-à-vis Iran can be achieved still exists."
Warning against prematurely instigating war over the matter, Obama confirmed that ""Israeli" officials shared the US view that a diplomatic solution was still plausible."
The US president further reiterated that he was doing everything within his power, in collaboration with "Israel", to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"We're now hearing noises about them returning to the negotiating table, that it is deeply in everybody's interests, the US', "Israel's", and the world's, to see if this can be resolved in a peaceful fashion," Obama stressed.
Asserting that "It's also not just an issue of consequences for "Israel" if action is taken prematurely," the US president pointed out that "there are consequences for the United States as well."
Addressing Republican rivals who call him to attack Iran, Obama said: "Typically, it's not the folks who are popping off who pay the price it's the men and women in uniform who pay the price."
"The Iranian issue requires a careful, thoughtful approach," he highlighted affirming that "those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. They are not commander in chief."
The US president said he doesn't expect a breakthrough in the first meeting with Iran, adding that "the US and its allies should have a sense fairly quickly about how serious Iran is about resolving the issue... and about offering assurances that it is not pursuing a nuclear weapon."
Referring to US calls to strike Syria, Obama said that "unilateral military action by the US against President Bashar Assad's regime would be a mistake."
But Obama cautioned the situation was not the same as in Libya, when the United States used its air force to back a NATO no-fly zone.
"In Libya, the United States had the full cooperation of the region, Arab states, and we knew that we could execute very effectively in a relatively short period of time. This is a much more complicated situation," he said.
Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
Comments
- Related News
US Senate Votes 15-3 for Arming Syrian Opposition
12 years ago
