Obama: Hagel, Kerry won't keep me from acting on Iran

 
President Obama indicated in an interview Thursday that new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and new Secretary of State John Kerry won't keep him from taking military action against Iran's nuclear program.
"One of the things you learn when you're President of the United States is you get a lot of advice, but ultimately it's your decision," Obama said in response to a question from Israel's Channel 2 anchor Yonit Levy about whether Vietnam veterans Hagel and Kerry might oppose an anti-Iran operation out of concerns about dragging the U.S. into another war.
"When I say that we intend to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, that we're going to pursue all avenues to make sure that that does not happen ... I think my Cabinet is prepared for a whole range of contingencies, but Secretary Kerry and Secretary Hagel share my fundamental view that the issue of Iran’s nuclear capability is an issue of U.S. national security interests as well as Israel’s national security interests and they also share my view that our commitment to Israel’s security is unbreakable," Obama said in the interview.
Hagel's nomination encountered significant and vocal resistance in the Senate and from pro-Israel Americans, in part over concerns he was not friendly to Israel and was too conciliatory towards Iran. Kerry faced little opposition, although the question from Levy painted both men as potential roadblocks to a U.S. military strike on Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has spoken of a need for a major decision on Iran this spring, which will begin next week as Obama is on his first trip as president to Israel. However, Obama set forth a slightly more prolonged timeline, although he was vague about when exactly the U.S. or other countries might need to act if diplomacy and sanctions don't persuade Iran to abandon what many experts view as a nuclear weapons program, but which Iran insists is a peaceful nuclear power effort.
"Right now, we think that it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously, we don’t want to cut it too close," Obama said.