DENVER - Amid growing tensions over Iran's nuclear program, several national security experts attended a panel in Denver to discuss current threats around the globe.
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral James Winnefeld, who is the second highest ranking U.S. military officer, urged restraint after Iran's decision not to cooperate with U.N. efforts to look into its nuclear program.
"I think the key is to keep it together, to keep the sanctions moving in the right direction and to give them an opportunity to work," Winnefeld said. "All options are on the table, so there is a military dimension to this, but I think we have to be cautious in the use of force. That's the President's call of course."
Winnefeld spoke at a forum organized by The CELL and sponsored by 9NEWS at the Denver Art Museum.
Winnefeld's comments are not exactly how Israeli officials see it. Israel's foreign minister says the Jewish state will not bow to foreign pressure in deciding whether to attack Iran.
In an interview Wednesday with Israeli Channel 2 TV News, Avigdor Lieberman rebuffed suggestions that American and Russian warnings against striking Iran would affect Israeli decision making, saying the decision "is not their business."
He said, "The security of the citizens of Israel, the future of the state of Israel, this is the Israeli government's responsibility."
Israel fears Iran is developing a nuclear bomb, which Tehran denies.
Israel has sent a series of hints that it may attack Iran's nuclear program.
During the Denver forum, Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado), who sits on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, pointed to a school of thought that an attack would only fuel any nuclear ambitions Iran has.
"Were we to attack Iran, the narrative would be 'this is the very reason that we need to have a bomb within Iran. If we had a bomb we wouldn't have been attacked,'" Udall said. "I don't know how we thread that needle. We keep all options on the table."
The reactions Wednesday came after the International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged renewed failure in trying to investigate suspicions of covert Iranian nuclear weapons work.
An IAEA team had hoped to talk over the weekend to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on the alleged weapons program. It also wanted to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments for future visits.
But mission head Herman Nackaerts acknowledged his team "could not find a way forward" in negotiations with Iranian officials.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation with The Associated Press)