Iran should not believe they won`t be attacked - Obama

In an interview for the ABC network with regards to Iran Obama said: "They shouldn't draw a lesson that we haven't struck, to think we won't strike Iran," Obama also said that the diplomacy used to tackle the issue of Syria’s chemical weapons is a potential model for negotiations on Iran’s US claimed "nuclear ambitions”.

Obama said in the interview on ABC's "This Week" that Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon is "a far larger issue for us" than the use of chemical weapons in Syria. A fact that the US claims but Iran has denied for years.

"I think what the Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue, that the threat . . . against Israel that a nuclear Iran poses is much closer to our core interests,' Obama said. "My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck [Syria] to think we won’t strike Iran."

Obama said, however, that what the Iranians should draw from this episode is that it is possible to resolve this type of disagreement diplomatically.

"My view is that if you have both a credible threat of force, combined with a rigorous diplomatic effort, that, in fact you can . . . strike a deal," he said, confirming that he had communicated with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani by letter.

The interview was reportedly recorded on Friday, before a Russian initiated, US supported agreement to inventory Syria's chemical weapons program and bring it under international control.