Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis 

    BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Three former U.S. military leaders have warned that military action against Tehran would be "disastrous," and urged President George Bush to open talks with Iran "without preconditions."

    In a letter to London's Sunday Times newspaper, the officers said attacking Iran "would have disastrous consequences for security in the region, coalition forces in Iraq and would further exacerbate regional and global tensions."

    "The current crisis must be resolved through diplomacy," they said.

    The signatories were retired Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, a senior military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington; retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, former head of U.S. Central Command; and Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, former director of the Center for Defense Information.

    The Bush administration has increasingly accused the Iranian government of seeking atomic arms and fuelling instability in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, prompting speculation it could be laying the ground for military attack against the Islamic state. In fact, it has already sent a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf. 

    The three officers urged Washington to "engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions."

    "There is time available to talk, we must ensure that we use it," they said.

    Washington has offered to hold direct talks with Iran but only once Tehran halts its drive to produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment.

    U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday said Washington was not planning for war with Iran, but again accused Tehran of supplying bombs for deadly attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

    (Agencies)