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Mitt Romney threat of war against Iran

Mitt Romney will this weekend threaten war on Iran if he is elected president, as he tries to recover from accusations that he embarrassed America with his calamitous visit to London.

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Mitt Romney will this weekend threaten war on Iran if he is elected president, as he tries to recover from accusations that he embarrassed America with his calamitous visit to London.

The Republican presidential candidate is due to arrive in Israel today (Saturday) for the second leg of his overseas tour and will pledge in a speech tomorrow to use crippling sanctions, or force if required, to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

He describes a nuclear-armed Iran as "the greatest threat to the world", and has struck a more bellicose tone than President Barack Obama, telling Tehran, "If you want peace, prepare for war."

"Governor Romney has made it clear he doesn't think that Obama's policies have been sufficient," a foreign policy adviser to the Republican candidate told The Daily Telegraph. "The president thinks that a nuclear Iran can be contained and deterred. He is clearly wrong."

Romney's visit to Jerusalem comes after his political opponents, and one of America's most celebrated athletes, said he had humiliated the country during his three-day stop in London.

He created a diplomatic spat on Thursday by questioning London's preparedness for the Olympics, prompting a rebuke from David Cameron.

Obama's Democrats gleefully seized on British summaries of a "Romneyshambles". Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate leader, said it was not good for us as a country" to "have somebody that's nominated by one of the principal parties to go over and insult everybody.

Carl Lewis, the winner of nine Olympic gold medals for the US, said yesterday, "Seriously, some Americans just shouldn't leave the country."

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt, Britain's Culture Secretary, pledged to prove Mitt Romney wrong, amid signs that the comments had united Olympic optimists and sceptics alike in support of the Games.

Romney appeared careful not to complain yesterday after heavy traffic forced him to walk through London to the Irish embassy to meet Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

He will seek to salvage his tour in Jerusalem by showing that he would be a sturdier ally to Israel than Mr Obama, who has not visited since taking office in 2009. In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, he pledged to treat Israel like the friend and ally it is", adding: "I cannot imagine going to the United Nations, as Obama did, and criticising Israel in front of the world."

The president's relations with Israel have cooled since he proposed a peace deal with the Palestinians along pre-1967 borders last year, but Obama announced yesterday that he would release an additional $70?million in military aid for Israel in an apparent attempt to upstage Romney's trip.

Despite the outcry over his comments, Romney raised $2?million in two fundraisers for American expatriates in London on Thursday. Senior bankers, lawyers and former ambassadors paid up to $75,000 (pounds 47,682) to mingle with the candidate. As guests ate fish and chips, he said he was "looking forward to the bust of Winston Churchill being in the Oval Office again," as disclosed by The Daily Telegraph this week. Obama returned the bust, given to George W Bush by Tony Blair.

Romney emphasised his English heritage in an interview with CNN after his gaffe-filled day, declaring himself "a guy from Great Britain" who is "married to a girl from Wales". His great-great-great-grandfather, a carpenter from Preston, was one of the first Mormons in Britain some 175 years ago.

His wife, Ann, a descendant of Welsh miners, joined the damage limitation effort, saying the ITV drama Downton Abbey was one of their favourite shows.

 

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