Both US presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, on Sunday night told CBS's 60 Minutes that they would not discount the possibility of launching a military strike on Iran.
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Photo: AP
However, while Obama discussed the military option as a possible means of denying the Islamic Republic a nuclear weapon, McCain addressed a scenario where Teheran had already obtained such capabilities and threatened to wield them against the US.
"I think that a nuclear-armed Iran is not just a threat to us, it's a threat to Israel," Obama said. "It is a game-changer in the region. It's unacceptable. And that's why I've said that I won't take any options off the table, including military, to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
The Democratic hopeful went on to claim that the Bush administration had wasted time in failing to address the Iranian threat, saying, "We have not applied the kind of tough diplomacy over the last eight years that I think could have made a difference."
In a separate interview, McCain cited Iran as an example for the kind of threat that could be countered by a preemptive strike "if it's a provable direct threat."
"Suppose that the Iranians had nuclear weapons, and you had a whole lot of other information about Iranian intentions, and you could make the case to the American people and to the world. I think it's obvious that we would have to prevent what we're absolutely certain is a direct threat to the lives of the American people," McCain said.
