US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday affirmed that as president of the United States he would prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

In a major foreign policy speech, titled “The Mantle of Leadership”, in Lexington, Virginia, Romney warned that under President Barack Obama
Iran is “closer than ever to nuclear weapons capability,” and vowed to put the leaders of Iran on notice: “We will prevent them from achieving a nuclear weapons capability,” he said.

To this end, Romney stated that the US would work with its allies to increase sanctions against Tehran and would increase its military presence in the region. The US also would “work with Israel to increase military assistance and coordination,” he said.

In his speech, Romney repeated his claim that Obama had placed “daylight” between the US and Israel. According to Romney, Obama “explicitly stated that his goal was to place daylight between US and Israel,” a policy he described as “a dangerous situation that has set back peace in the middle east and emboldened our enemies.”

With respect to the stalemated peace process, Romney said that he is committed to seeing the creation of a “democratic and prosperous independent Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Jewish state.”

He added that Obama’s Middle East peacemaking had failed, and that only a new president will bring a chance to begin anew.

Romney has been a vocal critic of the US president’s policies in the Middle East, often deriding him for what he says is a weakness in confronting Islamism and for allegedly downgrading ties with Israel, saying he is “throwing Israel under the bus.” Obama maintains that US-Israel ties are as strong as ever, citing record defense aid to Jerusalem.