US President Barack Obama has said he would prefer a diplomatic solution to the nuclear weapons programme of Iran, as he noted that the military option, which he did not rule out altogether, was messy. At the same time, Obama insisted that there has been no change in his determination to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Obama told reporters at a White House news conference in Washington yesterday that Iran’s economy has been crippled as consequence of the sanctions that have been put in place.

Meanwhile, the UN nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA in its latest report has said that the progress of uranium enrichment capacity in Iran has slowed down since Hassan Rouhani took over as the new President.