McCain says he didn’t need to hear about classified memo to know US lacks coherent Iran policy

McCain says US lacks effective policy on Iran

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain says he didn’t need to hear about a secret memorandum from the Pentagon to know the U.S. doesn’t have an effective policy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.

McCain called for serious and meaningful sanctions against Iran. The Arizona Republican spoke on “Fox News Sunday.”

The New York Times reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote a classified memo in January warning about the lack of a long-term plan for handling Iran’s atomic ambitions.

The newspaper says that Gates’ memo spurred the Obama administration to come up with new options, including using the military. Administration officials say the memo did not cause a reconsideration of their approach.