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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday a nuclear Iran would pose a “grave threat” and that the world must stop Tehran from obtaining an atomic weapon.

Obama told reporters during a visit to Israel that if elected, he would take “no options off the table” in dealing with the Iran issue and said tougher sanctions could be imposed.

“A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama told reporters after visiting the Israeli town of Sderot, which lies close to the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

He said the international community should immediately offer “big sticks and big carrots” to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program. The West suspects Iran wants to build atom bombs but the Islamic Republic says its aims are peaceful.

“Iranians need to understand that whether it’s the Bush administration or the Obama administration, this is a paramount concern to the United States,” he said in Sderot, which has been hit by cross-border rockets fired by Gaza-based militants.

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama differ in their proposals for when and how the United States should begin a major troop withdrawal from Iraq, and under what conditions they would enter into negotiations with the government of Iran.

On just about every other issue related to U.S policy in the Middle East, the presumptive presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties are in near total agreement. And when it comes to the goal, the word “near” can be deleted. Both share—as must all ruling class-approved candidates for the position of CEO of the empire—an unquestioning dedication to U.S. domination of that key strategic region. Seventy percent of known global oil reserves are located in the Middle East.

Both Obama and McCain have expressed a limitless devotion to the state of Israel. Both have emerged as leading voices in the chorus of demonization against the governments of Iran, Syria and Sudan, and popular movements such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas and other Palestinian resistance organizations.

The White House hopeful Barack Obama says an air strike on Iran will not halt its nuclear program, calling for tougher Iran sanctions.

“Iran is a big country. They have dispersed their nuclear capabilities in a way that you are not going to see smooth, surgical strikes solving the problem entirely the way that Israel was able to deal with Iraq’s nuclear threat,” he told ABC News.

The Illinois senator called for “tough sanctions” coupled with “tough diplomacy that makes the calculus for the Iranians different.”

While insisting that “war is not a good option,” Obama maintained that he “would not take military options off the table when it comes to Iran and dealing with their nuclear capacity.”

The US has set a two-week deadline for Tehran to halt its nuclear program, after their talks on Iran’s nuclear program.