US lacks plan to curb Iran's nuke drive: Gates

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned in a secret three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Irans steady progress toward nuclear capability.Several officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obamas national security adviser, Gen. James Jones, came in the midst of an intensifying effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for President Obama. They include a set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course. Officials familiar with the memos contents would describe only portions dealing with strategy and policy, and not sections that apparently dealt with secret operations against Iran, or how to deal with Persian Gulf allies. Some officials said his memo should be viewed in that light: as a warning to a relatively new president that the United States was not adequately prepared. He wrote the memo after Iran had let pass a 2009 deadline set by President Obama to respond to his offers of diplomatic engagement.