Former U.S. envoy to the UN John Bolton says Washington has suffered a humiliating defeat in its drive against Iran’s nuclear activities.

In a Friday interview with BBC Persian, Bolton said Washington’s efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear achievements have come to naught as Tehran has successfully managed to defend its national interests.
In my view, we lost the fight. Tehran has emerged the ultimate winner in maintaining its nuclear program, he added.
Bolton claimed that if Washington had settled on a military option against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure beforehand, “the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons would not have existed in the world today”.
The former U.S. diplomat said that he seriously advises U.S. President Barack Obama to opt for a military attack on Iran’s uranium enrichment, should three months of direct negotiation with Iran prove to be a failure.
Then again, I doubt the new administration would pay heed to my advice and consider a military option against the Islamic Republic. Prospects of a U.S. attack on Iran remain very bleak, he added.
While the UN nuclear watchdog, in its Sept. 15 report on Iran, declared that it could not find any “components of a nuclear weapon” or “related nuclear physics studies” in the country, some U.S. officials continue to accuse Tehran of seeking nuclear weaponry.
Bolton, one of Washington’s most articulate advocates of military action against Iran, however admitted that even the military option can not destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities and can only buy time for Washington.
Bolton suggested that only ‘regime change’ in Iran could resolve the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear issue but added that the idea is not practical any more.
The former diplomat quit his UN job in 2006 after failing to win Senate confirmation and worked as a senior foreign policy adviser to former president George W. Bush.
(Source: Press TV)