Despite providing no new evidence to the contrary, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen says he “doesn’t believe for a second” that Iran’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and reiterated that the US is considering attacking Iran over it.
“We’ve actually been thinking about military options for a significant period of time,” Mullen insisted. Indeed the US has been threatening to attack Iran off and on for years, usually citing the civilian nuclear program as a justification.
The threat comes just weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admonished the US regarding Iran, saying that they needed to threaten to attack Iran much more often than they had been in recent months. The US had publicly rejected the call, saying they threaten Iran enough at present, but such a new, high profile threat suggests they may still be on the rise.
It also comes just a week before the planned P5+1 talks with Iran, which are supposed to be a meaningful effort involving US diplomats to kick-start talks designed to prevent a war with Iran. Timing the threat like this may suggest the talks aren’t going to amount to much.
