WarSclerotic

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday affirmed that as president of the United States he would prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

In a major foreign policy speech, titled “The Mantle of Leadership”, in Lexington, Virginia, Romney warned that under President Barack Obama Iran’s nuclear program had advanced to the point whereby the Islamic Republic is now “closer than ever to nuclear weapons capability.”

Moreover, Romney said, as a result of Obama’s Iran policy, Tehran “has never posed a greater danger to our friends, our allies, and to us. And it has never acted less deterred by America, as was made clear last year when Iranian agents plotted to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in our nation’s capital.”

Despite the growing threat posed by the Iranian regime, Romney accused Obama of not supporting the Iranian people against the Mullahs: “When millions of Iranians took to the streets in June of 2009, when they demanded freedom from a cruel regime that threatens the world, when they cried out, ‘Are you with us, or are you with them?’ – the American President was silent.”

In contrast, Romney vowed that as president he would put the leaders of Iran on notice: “We will prevent them from achieving a nuclear weapons capability,” he asserted.

To this end, Romney stated that the US would work with its allies to increase sanctions against Tehran and would increase its military presence in the region. The US also would “work with Israel to increase military assistance and coordination,” he said.

In his speech, Romney repeated his claim that Obama had placed “daylight” between the US and Israel. According to Romney, Obama “explicitly stated that his goal was to place daylight between US and Israel,” a policy he described as “a dangerous situation that has set back peace in the middle east and emboldened our enemies.”

With respect to the stalemated peace process, Romney said that he is committed to seeing the creation of a “democratic and prosperous independent Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Jewish state.”

He added that Obama’s Middle East peacemaking had failed, and that only a new president will bring a chance to begin anew.

Romney has been a vocal critic of the US president’s policies in the Middle East, often deriding him for what he says is a weakness in confronting Islamism and for allegedly downgrading ties with Israel, saying he is “throwing Israel under the bus.” Obama maintains that US-Israel ties are as strong as ever, citing record defense aid to Jerusalem.