US Ambassador to Switzerland Donald Beyer has ruled out the likelihood of Washington’s military option against Tehran, given the exacerbating economic woes in the United States.
In an interview with the Swiss daily Der Bund, Beyer pointed out that the US overall debt has exceeded USD 16 billion and the country’s unemployment rate stands at 8.2 percent.
Noting that the low-spending level in the US budget over the past two years has been unprecedented since the World War II, the American envoy went on to say that there is an implicit consensus among Democrats and Republicans that the country’s military budget needs to be reduced.
With 900 military bases abroad, the US has the highest military expenditure in the world; however the matter is no longer acceptable, he added.
Beyer contended that under the prevailing circumstances, no one considers war with Iran as an option and ruled out the possibility of another Cold War in the future.
The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Iran with a military option in a bid to force the Islamic Republic to halt its nuclear energy program, which Washington and Tel Aviv claim has a military component.
Iran rejects the allegations of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.