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U.S. Has Iran War Options, Former Policy Chief Says
(Defense News) - Barbara Opall-Rome - U.S. war planners have developed "a viable contingency" for Iran that U.S. President Barack Obama will not hesitate to authorize if the military option is the only way to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to former U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy Michele Flournoy. "Having sat in the Pentagon, I can assure you of the quality of the work that has been done....The military option for the president is real," said Flournoy, who left the Pentagon in February. Flournoy noted that more than 40,000 U.S. troops are positioned in the region, with two carrier strike groups deployed in the Arabian Gulf. Such military presence is part of a carefully timed strategy that, through the coming months, will continue to focus on a combination of increasingly crippling sanctions and diplomacy.