Officials warn of Iran, bomb

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Iran could amass enough nuclear material to build a bomb in about a year and with help might eventually be able to field a missile powerful enough to reach the United States, senior military and intelligence officials said Wednesday.

Four top representatives of the Obama administration told Congress they are pursuing new sanctions on Iran urgently and add that a military strike has not been ruled out.

President Barack Obama has said he won’t “take any options off the table with respect to Iran,” Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said. “Now, that means to me that military options remain on the table.”

Iran is pursuing an aggressive missile program, including intercontinental missiles it would need outside expertise to perfect, Defense Intelligence Agency director Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

That is not the same thing as saying that Iran is closing in on the means to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, but the comments were among the Obama administration’s most precise public assessments of Iran’s military abilities and intentions.

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