An American security expert has dismissed earlier reports of Gulf media that the United States would launch a military action against Iran soon, Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported Thursday.

The United States has been already in two wars and its volunteer army is already "stretched thin," said Dr. Andrew Terrill, a professor of the U.S. Army War College, the most senior military educational institution and think tank in the U.S. Army.

Addressing at a forum concerning West-Arab Relations on Thursday, Terrill said the consequences of such an attack on Iran would be far-reaching into Iraq.

If Iran were attacked, the situation in Iraq would be "aggravated immensely," he said.

"Since U.S. President George Bush's legacy will be tied to Iraq's outcomes, it is very unlikely that he would take such an extreme measure (against Iran soon)," he was quoted as saying.

Furthermore, such an attack would probably only set back the disputed Iranian nuclear program a few years, as Iran's centrifuges are dispersed and heavily guarded throughout the country, Terrill added.

The mobilization of U.S. aircraft carriers in the Middle East, in his opinion, was meant to add pressure to reinforce diplomacy.

Such a show of force "changes the political dynamic" in the region, the professor said.

Terrill said he hoped the "show of force will strengthen ... something that allows us (the U.S.) to increase pressure on the Iranians till they decide that they would rather back down."

In early April, Kuwait-based daily Arab Times reported that the United States is planning to attack Iran's nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities by the end of this month.

Source: Xinhua