Mitt acts the tough guy on Iran

Romney Statement on Iran at Odds With His Foreign Policy Advisers

By ASHLEY PARKER, NYT
1:22 p.m. | Updated

As the turmoil in the Middle East thrust foreign policy to the forefront of the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney found himself at odds with his own foreign policy advisers. While two of his advisers in interviews said that Mr. Romney had a different "red line" on Iran from President Obama, Mr. Romney told ABC News that his red line is the same as that of the president.

"My red line is Iran may not have a nuclear weapon," Mr. Romney said, in an interview that was broadcast on Friday with George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America." "It is inappropriate for them to have the capacity to terrorize the world."

Though Mr. Romney has repeatedly said that he would have put in place "crippling sanctions" with Iran far before Mr. Obama did, the president has now also implemented sanctions, and Mr. Obama similarly draws his administration's red line at preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.

When Mr. Stephanopoulos pointed out that Mr. Romney's red line was the same as the president's, Mr. Romney replied, "Yeah, and I laid out what I would do to keep Iran from reaching that red line."

(More here.)