Washington, May 18 (ANI): U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro has said Washington is ready to activate measures to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Shapiro said Washington continues to hope that diplomacy and sanctions would persuade Tehran to back-off on its nuclear programme, but added that a military option was 'ready'.
Addressing the Israel Bar Association, Shapiro said: "It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically through the use of pressure than to use military force".
"But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available. Not just available, but it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready," the BBC quoted him as saying.
Pentagon spokesman George Little has also stressed that Washington's policy on the issue "has not changed at all".
"The ambassador's comments are perfectly in line with what we have been saying for a while with respect to Iran. Our focus in the US is on using diplomatic and economic instruments... to bring pressure to bear on the Iranians to do the right thing," he said.
President Barack Obama had earlier said that military action has not been ruled out against Iran.
The US and its allies have said that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb. ehran, however, insists that it is enriching uranium to produce medical isotopes and fuel for nuclear reactors.
Both Israel and the US have said that military force against Iran is the last resort to stop it from uranium enrichment programme to make a weapon.
Six world powers, the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, are trying to persuade Tehran to reduce uranium enrichment and to open up its nuclear facilities to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In the past, US officials have stressed that any attack on Iran would result in instability in the region. (ANI)
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