Ahmadinejad flexes military muscle as news of secret Gates Iran memo ripples

In a secret three-page January memo, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned the White House that the nation lacks an effective long-term plan to deal with the continuing growth of Iran’s nuclear program, reports the New York Times.

The Gates Iran memo has sparked efforts from the White House, Pentagon, and intelligence services to provide President Obama with potential military options in the event that diplomatic actions fail.

While an official familiar with the document called it a “wake-up call,” other White House officials insist that the Obama administration has been developing different options and strategies for the past 15 months.

Meanwhile, Iran has continued its confrontational stance towards the US, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling on the US to destroy its nuclear arsenal and withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jones: The US is ready

Speaking with The New York Times, which first reported the existence of the memo, Mr. Obama’s security adviser, Gen. James Jones did not specifically address the memo, but denied that the US government is unprepared to deal with a nuclear Iran.

“On Iran, we are doing what we said we were going to do. The fact that we don’t announce publicly our entire strategy for the world to see doesn’t mean we don’t have a strategy that anticipates the full range of contingencies — we do,” [said Gen. Jones].

But Obama's political opponents in Washington are seizing on report of the memo to cast doubt on the president's Iran strategy.

"I didn’t need a secret memo to know we didn’t have a coherent policy," Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona told host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "That’s pretty obvious."

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