sanctions on the Iranian regime, support the Iranian dissidents, and convey through actions – not just words – that the military option is very real and very credible." In June 2012, Romney said "I can assure you, if I'm President, the Iranians will have no question but that I would be willing to take military action if necessary to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world." In his July 2012 trip to Israel he said that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear "capability" should be America's "highest national security priority."Jody Rudoren, Ashley Parker, Romney Backs Israeli Position On Facing Iran, The New York Times, July 30, 2012. Romney has said of using military force against Iran, "I don't believe at this stage, therefore, if I'm President, that we need to have war powers approval or a special authorization for military force." He has refused to state if he would be open to using direct diplomacy to settle the issue with the Iranians. Iraq Romney supported the invasion of Iraq and the "troop surge". He criticized mismanagement of Iraq post-invasion, stating that both diplomatic and military efforts should be used to achieve success in the region. In his 2007 speech announcing that he would run for president in 2008, Romney said, "so long as there is a reasonable prospect of success, our wisest course is to seek stability in Iraq, with additional troops endeavoring to secure the civilian population." He stated that instability in Iraq could lead to civil war and that "Iraq's Sunni region could become a base for al-Qaeda; that its Shia region could be seized by Iran; that Kurd tension could destabilize Turkey" and that the broader Middle East and the United States could be drawn into conflict. In a 2007 Republican presidential debate, Romney mistakenly said that the Iraq war could have been avoided if Saddam Hussein had allowed IAEA inspectors into the country. CNN contributor Paul Begala criticized this remark and called it "[a] huge mistake, a gaffe that -- that's, if this were a general election debate, would be a disqualifier," pointing out that inspectors had been allowed into Iraq. In October 2011, Romney criticized the Obama administration's announcement that all American combat troops had been withdrawn from Iraq calling the withdrawal either "naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude." Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict In October 2011, during his 2012 presidential