Mullen: Options exist on Iran but diplomacy first

The top US military officer said on Sunday that military options existed to try to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon but that diplomatic efforts were the best way forward now.

"We in the Pentagon, we plan for contingencies all the time and certainly there are options which exist" for dealing with the Iran nuclear threat militarily, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a forum at Columbia University in New York.

But he added: "I worry, on the other hand, about striking Iran. I've been very public about that because of the unintended consequences of that. The diplomatic, the engagement piece, the sanctions piece, all those things, from my perspective, need to be addressed to possibly have Iran change its mind about where it's headed."

Also on Sunday, an Iranian-hosted international disarmament conference concluded with a demand that Israel join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to assure a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.

The two-day conference followed closely behind a 47-nation nuclear security conference hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington last week, which excluded Iran and nuclear-armed North Korea.

Washington and its allies suspect Iran's nuclear program is geared toward producing weapons, which Tehran denies.

As the conference was ending Sunday, Iran staged an annual military parade where it displayed missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.