US general: Iran war 'really destabilizing'

Press TV - Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey has said that military conflict with Iran would be “premature” and have deeply destabilizing effects on world security and economy.

"A conflict with Iran would be really destabilizing, and I'm not just talking from the security perspective. It would be economically destabilizing," General Dempsey said in an interview with the National Journal on Thursday. 

"I just think that it's premature to be deciding that the economic and diplomatic approach is inadequate," he further noted. 

The cautionary comments come a week after the US military chief paid his first official visit to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, President Shimon Peres, and military chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz. 

Pointing to the differences of opinion between Washington and Tel Aviv over Iran's nuclear program, Dempsey noted that the allies see Iran's nuclear program differently. 

"My intervention with them was not to try to persuade them to my thinking or allow them to persuade me to theirs, but rather to acknowledge the complexity and commit to seeking creative solutions, not simple solutions,”he added. 

US President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other top officials have warned Israeli leaders about the "dire consequences of a strike" to stop a Tel Aviv's possible attack against Iran. 

The US, Israel, and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to sway the United Nations Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran. 

The pressure against Tehran increased in November 2011 after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Iran of conducting activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, adding that these activities "may still be ongoing.”