Full Focus

A man rows a boat near a house built on a rock on the river Drina near the western Serbian town of Bajina Basta, about 160km (99 miles) from the capital Belgrade May 22, 2013. The house was built in 1968 by a group of young men who decided that the rock on the river was an ideal place for a tiny shelter, according to the house's co-owner, who was among those involved in its construction. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

Editor's choice

Our top photos from the past week.   Slideshow 

Pictures

Photo

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Devastated by Tornado

A huge tornado tears through an Oklahoma City suburb.  Slideshow 

Photo

Message of humility

A religious fraternity in Rio considers the election of Pope Francis, a confirmation of their beliefs in poverty and simplicity.  Slideshow 

Sponsored Links

Option of striking Iran never off the table: Pentagon

Related Topics

A worker watches visitors during the inauguration of the Fuel Manufacturing plant at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility 440 kilometres (274 miles) south of Tehran April 9, 2009. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

A worker watches visitors during the inauguration of the Fuel Manufacturing plant at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility 440 kilometres (274 miles) south of Tehran April 9, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Caren Firouz

WASHINGTON | Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:42pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military action against Iran remains an option even as the United States pursues diplomacy and sanctions to halt the country's nuclear program, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

"We are not taking any options off the table as we pursue the pressure and engagement tracks," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said. "The president always has at his disposal a full array of options, including use of the military ... It is clearly not our preferred course of action but it has never been, nor is it now, off the table."

Morrell was responding to questions about comments by Michele Flournoy, U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, in Singapore.

"The military option is an option of last resort. It is not a preferred option," Flournoy told reporters. "It is not on the table in the near term."

(Reporting by Adam Entous, Editing by Sandra Maler)
World
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
ktchnsnk wrote:
is it now our strategy to kill off the mullahs by making them LAUGH themselves to death?

what will the president’s sock puppet say after the Persians respond to his solemn pronouncements with the customary finger & moon him the next time?

Iran, in DESPERATE need of a REAL GOOD bitch-slapping, NOT all this frivolous talk of sanctions, plans of sanctions, plans to plan plans of sanctions…

Apr 23, 2010 12:10am EDT  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »