US Poll: Support for Military Option against Iran 'If Necessary'

[wakeupamerica]

Published: 10/06/09, 10:17 PM / Last Update: 10/06/09, 11:12 PM
US Poll: Support for Military Option against Iran 'If Necessary'

by Gil Ronen
Follow Israel news on Twitter and Facebook.

(IsraelNN.com) Most Americans back the military option against Iran, if necessary, according to a new poll released on Tuesday, the same day that Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said that the United States is ready to impose tougher sanctions against Iran if international negotiations over its nuclear weapons program fail.

"This administration has demonstrated that it is committed to a diplomatic resolution of the international community's issues with Iran," Levey told the Senate Banking Committee.

"The world is now united in looking to Iran for a response. If Iran does not live up to its obligations in this process, it alone will bear the responsibility for that outcome," the senior official explained. "Under these circumstances, the United States would be obliged to turn to strengthened sanctions."

Levey, who is the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said: "We are intensifying work with our allies and other partners to ensure that, if we must go down this path, we will do so with as much international support as possible. We will now wait to see whether Iran follows its constructive words with concrete action. If it does not, and if the president determines that additional measures are necessary, we will be ready to take action, ideally with our international partners."

"We will need to impose measures simultaneously in many different forms in order to be effective," he said.

Preparing legislation
The Banking Committee's chairman, Senator Christopher Dodd (D), said he was strongly in favor of increasing pressure on Tehran, and said he was preparing "comprehensive sanctions legislation.”

"I am committed to ensuring that this Congress equips President Obama with all the tools he needs to confront the threats posed by Iran," he said. The draft of the Senate bill would place new sanctions on companies exporting refined petroleum products to Iran.

However, a top energy official in Iran said Tuesday that his country can defeat any gasoline sanctions the U.S. imposes. “If for any reason we are short of gasoline, we will move from one region to another, from one refinery to another,” said Hojatollah Ghanimifard, vice president at the National Iranian Oil Company.

Most Americans support military strike
A majority of Americans doubt that diplomacy with Iran will succeed in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. They think the U.S. should strike Iran militarily if that is the only way to prevent its acquisition of nuclear weapons.

A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey released Tuesday determined that 61 percent of Americans would support a military strike in order to prevent Iran's from arming itself with nuclear weapons. Twenty-four percent said it was more important to avoid conflict even if that means Iran would end up building nuclear arms.

While 63 percent supported direct U.S. negotiations with Iran, 64 percent said such efforts would not succeed.