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." 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.