Santorum Says He Would Order Air Strikes If Iranian Leaders Do Not Dismantle Nuclear Sites

(The Blaze/AP) Republican contender Rick Santorum says that if he's elected president, he would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities unless they were opened up for international arms inspectors.

The former Pennsylvania senator says President Barack Obama hasn't done enough to prevent the Iranian government from building a nuclear weapon and has risked turning the U.S. into a "paper tiger."

Santorum tells NBC television's "Meet the Press" that he would tell Iranian leaders that either they open up those facilities, begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors — or the U.S. would attack them.

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"SANTORUM: I would say to every foreign scientist that's going to Iran to help them with their program,'You will be treated as an enemy combatant like an Al Qaeda member,' and finally I would be working openly with the state of Israel and I would be saying to the Iranians; 'You need to open up those facilities, you begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors or we will those facilities with air strikes and make it very public.'

GREGORY: You would lay out a red line and if they pass it, air strikes?

SANTORUM: Iran would not get a nuclear weapon under my watch."

The Obama administration, like President George W. Bush's administration, has focused primarily on international diplomacy and economic penalties to try to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear program. Iran contends its efforts are for peaceful purposes.