Hillary Clinton threatens to 'totally obliterate' Iran if it attacks Israel

April 22, 2008

United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned Iran against an attack on Israel; "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," the former First Lady said.

Clinton was speaking in an interview on ABC's Good Morning America television program.

"In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," Clinton said. "That's a terrible thing to say but those people who run Iran need to understand that because that perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic."

"One of the things that we've seen over the last several years is a bunch of talk using words like 'obliterate,'" Barack Obama said in a separate ABC interview. "It doesn't actually produce good results. And so I'm not interested in saber-rattling."

Last night, on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Hillary Clinton said US allies in the Middle East are "intimidated and bullied into submission by Iran." Here also, she warned that an attack on Israel would bring "massive retaliation" for Iran.

Clinton and Obama face off today in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. With 158 delegates at stake, Pennsylvania is the largest of the remaining states and territories yet to decide.