"I think any president charged with responsibility for protecting the American people is not going to take the military option off the table when you confront a threat as grave as an Iran armed with nuclear weapons," US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said.
"...he's (Bush) made it plain for some time that our preferred way of dealing with this problem is through peaceful and diplomatic means, and that's what we've been doing for the past several years," he said.
Noting that discussing the strategy in public would not be productive, Bolton said, "the Iranians have made it clear they have no intention of suspending their uranium-enrichment activity.
"I think moving for sanctions in the Security Council, considering other economic steps, ramping up the Proliferation Security Initiative, are all things we should and will be doing."
The top American envoy at the UN also reminded Russia and China that they had promised to go the sanctions route when passing the UN Security Council resolution this June.
"It's not at all clear that Russia or China would actually veto a resolution in the Security Council. They may not support it, but if they acquiesce in it by abstaining, that still leaves open the possibility that the council could act," Bolton said on MSNBC's 'Hardball' programme.
"The possibility of sanctions in the council has always been one part of the effort," he said adding, "lots of countries can impose sanctions on Iran without action by the Security Council -- the European Union, Japan, others."
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