The Obama administration denied Monday that it is giving Israel the green light to attack Iran or that it is reconsidering plans to engage diplomatically with the Islamic Republic.
- Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, formerly the country's top nuclear negotiator, warned Tehran would hold Washington responsible for any such strike after US Vice-President Joe Biden said Washington would not dictate how Israel deals with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
- But State Department spokesman Ian Kelly poured cold water on suggestions that Biden could be seen as giving the Jewish state a green light to attack Iran, which it views as an existential threat.
- "I certainly would not want to give a green light to any kind of military action," Kelly told reporters. But he echoed Biden's point that Washington considered Israel a "sovereign country" with a right to make its own military decisions.
- In the mean time,Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned in a separate interview Sunday of the dangers posed by any military strike against Iran, despite saying military options should not be ruled out.
- Obama has said he wants to see progress on his diplomatic outreach to Iran by year's end, while not excluding a "range of steps," including tougher sanctions, if Tehran continued its nuclear drive.
- Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled out a possible military strike against Iran.
Source: Gulf News
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