AFP, Washington :US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter offered assurances Friday that the Iran nuclear deal will leave Washington with a “more effective” military option if that becomes necessary.Carter defended the agreement in an opinion piece in USA Today, arguing it would lead to a more durable outcome.But the Pentagon chief said the military option was still on the table and, if called for, such action would be “more effective” as a result of the agreement.World powers and Iran struck the landmark deal in July after years of negotiations to address Western concerns that Tehran was developing a nuclear bomb.”Its implementation will block the pathways Iran could take to build a nuclear bomb. That long-term outcome is more durable than one a military strike would bring about,” Carter wrote.”While I am responsible for that alternative and know that it would be effective at setting back Iran’s nuclear program, it would do so with potentially serious second- and third-order repercussions, and the likely need to repeat attacks once Iran sought to rebuild its capability.”
