2b Posted July 3, 2008 By Washington correspondent Kim Landers Posted 1 hour 25 minutes ago Updated 1 hour 26 minutes ago US President George W Bush and his top military adviser are being drawn into potentially dangerous speculation that Israel is preparing to launch a military strike against Iran. Mr Bush is doing his best to play down the chances of that happening before he leaves office, but America's most senior military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, is being far blunter, warning that an Israeli strike inside Iran would be a high risk move that could destabilise the Middle East. Admiral Mullen has just returned from Israel and is refusing to reveal what the country's leadership has told him about any intentions for a military strike on the Islamic republic. "I won't discuss the details of the concerns they expressed nor will I comment one way or another about the speculation surrounding Israeli intentions," he said upon his return. He has made it very clear though what he would not like to see happen. "From the United States's perspective, the United States' military perspective in particular, opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us," he said. "That doesn't mean we don't have capacity or reserve, but that would really be very challenging and also the consequences of that sometimes are very difficult to predict." Asked if he has strongly discouraged Israel from launching a military attack on Iran, President George W Bush is stressing his first option in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions is diplomacy. "The best way to solve it diplomatically is for the United States to work with other nations to send a focused message, and that is that you will be isolated and you will have economic hardship if you continue trying to enrich." As for whether the US will launch an attack, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has told reporters in New York that he does not believe the US will "resort to such craziness". He says with America bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is not in a position to "take another risk in the region". He also says Israel has too much political turmoil to launch an attack of its own. Iran insists its nuclear program is only aimed at generating electricity. Mr Mottaki expects Tehran will respond in less than a fortnight to an international package of incentives seeking to end Iran's nuclear enrichment program. US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad has said he is optimistic Iran will respond to the incentives, but the White House remains sceptical. Based on a report by Washington correspondent Kim Landers for AM. Tags: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, iran, israel, united-states Search for news Search HelpMy Tags environmentgovernment-and-politicshealthindigenousoffbeatscience-and-technologyAdd Tag Page links here to follow news categories important to you. View all tags | Tag cloud HelpMy Stories Bookmark stories, video and audio clips you may want to access later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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