Santa Clara: US will take every possible step to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear-capable state, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said.

"If they (Iran) proceed and we get intelligence that they're proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon then we will take whatever steps are necessary to stop it," Panetta told CBS '60 Minutes' in an interview aired on Sunday.

"There are no options that are off the table," he said when asked if this includes military options too.

The consensus is that, if they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon, he said.

"The United States, and the President's made this clear, does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us. And it's a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here. If we have to do it, we will do it," he said in response to a question.

Tags: Iran nuclear programme, Iran nuke weapon, Leon Panetta, Panetta on Iran, US on Iran nukes

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