Ready with all options on Iran: Obama
Pointing out that US has "pretty good bead" on Iran's nuclear programme, President Barack Obama today said Washington is ready with all options, including military, against threats coming from Tehran but would prefer to have it resolved diplomatically.
"My goal is to try to resolve this diplomatically, mainly because the only way, over the long term, we can assure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon is by getting them to understand it's not in their interest," Obama told the NBC news in an interview.
In the interview taken yesterday, but aired today, Obama said the US, however, is ready with all the other options if need be.
But, did not give details of the military preparations in this regard.
"I'm not going to discuss specific military programmes or go into details in terms of what our planning is.
"I will say this, that we have done extensive planning over the last several years about all our various options in the Gulf. And, you know, we are prepared to exercise these options, should the need arise," he said.
Obama said the US has good estimate of the progress in Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
"I think we have a very good estimate of when they could potentially achieve breakout capacity, what stage they're at in terms of processing uranium," he said.
"But do we know all the dynamics inside Iran? Absolutely not.
"I think one of the difficulties is that Iran itself is a lot more divided now than it was. Knowing who is making decisions at any given time inside of Iran is tough.
"But we do have a pretty good bead on what's happening with their nuclear program," Obama said.
