US President Barack Obama today warned Iran that the"clock is ticking away" as his Republican challenger Mitt Romneyvowed a harder line to prevent Tehran from going nuclear during the last of thethree high-stake presidential debates just two weeks before polls.
With one last chance for both candidates to appeal tomillions of voters, Obama was the aggressor from the start of the debate whichwas mainly devoted to foreign policy issues.
"We're not going to allow Iran to perpetually engage innegotiations that lead nowhere. And I've been very clear to them because of theintelligence coordination that we do with a range of countries, includingIsrael, we have a sense of when they would get breakout capacity, which means thatwe would not be able to intervene in time to stop their nuclear program, andthat clock is ticking," Obama said.
"We are going to make sure that if they do not meet thedemands of the international community, then we are going to take all optionsnecessary to make sure they don't have a nuclear weapon," 51-year-oldObama warned in a live debate.
Taking a harder line, 65-year-old Romney said anuclear-capable Iran is unacceptable to America, declaring the Islamic republicas "the greatest threat the world faces".
"It presents a threat not only to our friends, butultimately a threat to us to have Iran have nuclear material, nuclear weaponsthat could be used against us or used to be threatening to us. It's alsoessential for us to understand what our mission is in Iran, and that is todissuade Iran from having a nuclear weapon through peaceful and diplomaticmeans," he said.
The two candidates agreed that the United States shoulddefend its key ally Israel if Iran attacked Tel Aviv, but Romney said he wouldtighten sanctions that are already affecting the Iranian economy.
Romney also called for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadto be indicted under the UN genocide convention over his comments questioningthe Holocaust. The Republican hopeful said he would make sure that Iraniandiplomats "are treated like the pariah they are around the world.
