Clinton, Obama tackle Iran issue in debate

By Jeff Mason

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The United States should offer to protect countries in the Middle East from Iran if those countries forgo nuclear weapons of their own, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

Clinton, a senator from New York, and rival Barack Obama, a senator from Illinois, reaffirmed their commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and held out the possibility of military action if Tehran attacked Israel.

The two candidates, vying to become the Democratic presidential nominee to take on Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain in the November election, made their comments in a debate before next week's Pennsylvania nominating contest.

Clinton, who has painted herself as stronger on foreign policy issues than Obama, said Washington should bring other Middle Eastern nations in addition to Israel under a security "umbrella" to create a deterrent against an Iranian threat.

"I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel," she said.

"We will let the Iranians know, that, yes, an attack on Israel would trigger massive retaliation, but so would an attack on those countries that are willing to go under the security umbrella and forswear their own nuclear ambitions."

She did not name specific countries to be a part of such an agreement.

Obama said keeping Iran free of nuclear weapons would be one of his top priorities in the White House.