January 11, 2012

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Dennis Ross, President Obama’s former top Iran adviser, said the president would strike Iran to keep it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“The Iranians should never think that there’s a reluctance to use the force,” Ross, who has returned to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, told Bloomberg News in an interview published Tuesday.

Obama administration officials have in recent weeks edged closer to warning Iran that a strike is in the cards if it does not make transparent a suspected nuclear weapons program.

“They need to know that if they take that step, they’re going to get stopped,” Leon Panetta, the defense secretary said over the weekend.

The United States has increased its military presence in the Persian Gulf and in the coming weeks will launch its largest-ever joint anti-missile defense exercise with Israel.

The Obama administration has also ratcheted up sanctions, targeting Iran’s Central Bank.

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