Gates: Iran’s Nuclear Program Cannot Be Eliminated Through Military Means

According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Mehr News Agency, former U.S.‍ Defense Secretary Robert Gates openly acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg that his country cannot fully​ eliminate Iran’s nuclear program even through military aggression, as ‌Tehran’s nuclear knowledge⁤ is indestructible.

In response to a question about the role of ⁤the Israeli prime minister in recent U.S.-Iran tensions, Gates said this ⁤issue first arose during his tenure as⁢ defense secretary under President Bush‌ in 2007 and 2008. He stated: “There is there’s‍ no doubt whatsoever we can inflict significant damage on those (Iranian nuclear) facilities; though, my position then and ​now has been that while you can substantially harm and set back Iran’s nuclear‍ program,‌ you⁤ cannot eliminate it by military ‌means.‍ They do not lose ‍the knowledge they have already acquired… My view, which I shared with president Bush fifteen years ago, ​was that you can hurt Iran’s peaceful nuclear program but cannot destroy it. You​ only buy time.”