The military's call for a dialogue came in wake of a series of naval
confrontations between the United States and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps in the Strait of Hormuz in late 2007 and 2008. Nobody was
injured in the encounters.
"When I talk about dialogue — that would need to be led, obviously,
politically and diplomatically," Mullen said. "And if it then resulted in a
military-to-military dialogue, I think that part of it certainly could add
to a better understanding about each other. But I'm really focused on the
diplomatic aspect."
Mullen, who returned from a trip to Israel, said the United States was
concerned over Middle East instability. He said Iran has become the center
of regional instability.
"Iran is the center of what is unstable in that part of the world, and
it reaches from Teheran to Beirut," Mullen said. "My position with regard to
the Iranian regime has not changed. They remain a destabilizing factor in
the area. I'm convinced the solution still lies in using other elements of
national power to change Iranian behavior, including diplomatic, financial
and international pressure."
Mullen, who did not elaborate, said Iran was continuing to develop
nuclear weapons. He said Teheran has been supporting Syria as well as such
leading insurgency groups as Hamas and Hizbullah.
But the Joint Chiefs commander played down the prospect of any U.S.
strike on Iran. Mullen said the U.S. military, with a major presence in
Afghanistan and Iraq, would find it difficult to sustain any campaign
against Iran.
"From the U.S. military perspective, opening up a third front right now
would be extremely stressful on us," Mullen said. "That doesn't mean we
don't have capacity or reserves. That would really be very challenging, and
the consequences on that would be difficult to predict."
Mullen said the United States was concerned over Iran's threats to close
the Strait of Hormuz, the passage for 30 percent of world oil shipping. But
he said Iran could not keep the waterway closed for long.
"I believe that the ability to sustain that is not there," Mullen said.
