Mullen supports diplomacy on Iran

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen warns of the consequences of attacking Iran, saying he supports a diplomatic approach to Tehran’s nuclear program.

“If there were a strike [against Iran]… the consequences, known and unknown, are extremely serious,” Admiral Mullen said on Friday.

“So, I am a big supporter of the [approach of] diplomacy-dialogue-sanctions and international pressure,” he said in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor.

This is while earlier in September, Mullen had said the US military was prepared to attack Iran if he believed it would stop Tehran from making a “bomb.”

Amid a standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, both Tel Aviv and Washington have repeatedly threatened Tehran with a military strike, based on allegations that Iran’s nuclear work may pursue a covert military agenda.

Iranian officials reject Western accusations that Tehran is pursuing a military nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear energy.