Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen: "Iran Is Very Focused On Developing This [Nuclear] Capability"

The Jerusalem Post reports that "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen spoke Tuesday about Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon in rare comments by a US official, acknowledging the possibility that Iran will succeed in acquiring a capability America has long termed unacceptable. 'I believe Iran is very focused on developing this capability, and I think when they get it, or should they get it, it will be very destabilizing,' Mullen told the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tuesday, in an address on military challenges in the Middle East, sponsored in connection with the embassy of the United Arab Emirates. Mullen said that an attack on Iran would be similarly destabilizing, as in both cases, 'there are unintended consequences that are very difficult to predict in a very volatile, highly volatile part of the world.' He specifically warned about the Iranian response, indicating that he worried about 'the vulnerabilities that regional countries have, who are great friends of ours, their populations' and whether retaliatory violence would spread throughout the region and potentially to other parts of the world. Yet while Mullen backed the Obama administration's approach of dialogue with Iran, he refused to rule out the use of military strikes despite the potential negative effects, saying, 'There is a great deal that certainly depends on the dialogue and the engagement, and I think we need to do that with all options remaining on the table, including, certainly, military options.' Even so, he expressed concern about the 'very narrow space that we have to work towards an objective of not achieving that capability.'... Mullen noted that Israel saw the issue as an 'existential' one, and that he had been in close contact with his counterpart, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, on the subject."
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