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Former pro basketball player Greg Anthony is backing Mitt Romney for president in a new Nevada TV commercial.  Romney’s campaign says the commercial launched statewide Friday.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas alum says in the ad that he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 because he thought Obama was a centrist. Anthony says he lost faith in Obama and is now supporting Romney, who he calls “a no-excuse kind of guy.”

Anthony is a native Nevadan who played for NBA teams in New York, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Milwaukee and Chicago. He’s a sports analyst for CBS.

Tens of thousands of the Mormon faithful are descending on Utah’s largest city for the semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The general conference in Salt Lake City allows Mormons to hear gospel-centered talks about faith, family and mission work from senior church leaders.

Senator Harry Reid’s office says the Senate Majority Leader will not be attending.

The conference also could be particularly festive given the upcoming presidential election, with Republican candidate Mitt Romney the first Mormon to gain the nomination from a major party. A church spokesman says it’s unlikely that Romney’s name will come up during the five church sessions this weekend.

And it was a testy first debate for two candidates running for Nevada’s newest congressional seat. Democrat Steven Horsford and Republican Danny Tarkanian faced off Thursday night.

Tarkanian slammed Horsford for proposing a tax increase while Horsford served as state senate majority leader. Horsford invoked his latest attack ad tying Tarkanian to the tea party by calling his opponent a “self-proclaimed crazy radical.” Both candidates however sidestepped direct questions on their policy plans.

The debate is the first of three scheduled in the race for Congressional District 4, which stretches across Clark, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye and White Pine counties.

In 2004, Tarkanian was the Republican nominee for Nevada Senate and lost in the general election. In 2006, he was the Republican nominee for Nevada Secretary of State and lost in the general election. In 2010 he was a candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, finishing third behind Sharron Angle and Sue Lowden.

Third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode are simply blips in the presidential race, but that makes them a big deal. Johnson is a former New Mexico governor running as the Libertarian Party nominee, while Goode is a conservative ex-congressman from Virginia competing as the Constitution Party candidate.

Democratic President Barack Obama’s campaign quietly has been keeping track of the two former Republican officeholders who could prove pivotal in Nevada where he and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are in a tight race. In 2008, more than 2 million voters chose someone other than the major party nominee.

The unemployment rate nationwide decreased to 7.8 percent in September as employment rose by 114,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistic shows among what it calls the “major worker groups,” the unemployment rates for adult men is 7.3 percent; adult women, 7.0 percent; whites, 7.0 percent; teenagers, 23.7 percent; blacks,13.4 percent; Hispanics, 9.9 percent; and Asians, 4.8 percent.

If you add all seven groups together, it works out to a rounded total of 77.9 percent. Then by dividing 77.9 percent by seven the rate increases to jus’ over 11-percent.

Meanwhile 12.1 million people in the U.S. remain unemployed.

It’s more than clear to me that President Obama ran guns through Libya into Syria, by-passing Congress once again. This comes as its been learned that between 300 to 400 national security officials received emails detailing the Benghazi terrorist attack as it was happening on 9/11, raising fresh questions about the truth behind the attack.

The emails show that the Libyan radical Islamic group Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility for the attack jus’ two hours after it began via social media. Furthermore, White House officials said an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Libya, providing Washington with a live feed to the chaos that unfolded.

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was officially on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, though it’s clear the U.S. “Special Mission Compound” building had more to do with the CIA than diplomacy. The idea that Stevens could have been involved in redirecting arms from Libya to Syria is hardly a stretch.

He had the perfect résumé for gun-running, as he had helped manage gun-running to the Libyan rebels during the insurgency against former dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The White House named Stevens liaison to the Libyan rebels in March 2011, months before Gadhafi’s August 2011 ouster.

A distress message left by U.S. diplomat Sean Smith, who died in the attack, on a gaming website, a strange place to post a message like this: “Assuming we don’t die tonight, we saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.”

Thirty four minutes later, when the Americans in the CIA safe house already knew something was wrong, U.S. Ambassador Stevens took a meeting with the Turkish ambassador. That ambassador leaves with no incident, unharmed.

Hours later, the attack began. The fight lasted for seven hours, until the break of dawn, again — with the live feed streamed to the White House Situation Room.

Benghazi isn’t the first time unauthorized gun-running schemes initiated by the Obama administration have cost American lives. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATFE) gave some 2,000 high-powered weapons to Mexican-based drug cartels in 2009 and then lost track of the guns.

The death toll from weapons used in the ATFE program — dubbed “Fast and Furious” – stands at more than 200 people 200 deaths and it continues to rise. Among the dead is U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, shot and killed in December 2010 near Rio Rico, Arizona, while attempting to apprehend a group of armed subjects.

Obama allowed the attack to happen and four Americans die so the evidence would be obliterated and the trail back to the White House would go cold. This is also why it took the FBI such a long time to get into the compound where the attack happened, even though a CNN reporter was able to walk in and recover Stevens’ personal diary.

You can live days without water and weeks without food. People who don’t survive in the outdoors most often die from losing their body heat, not necessarily from starvation or dehydration.

You need to be able to start a fire. And perhaps most importantly, you need to be able to build a shelter to stave off wind, rain and snow, and to keep your body heat trapped where it belongs: near your body.

Here are the keys to taking shelter in the wilderness:

Choosing the best place to build a survival shelter is important. It should be in the driest spot you can find. Nothing sucks out body heat faster than wetness.

If it isn’t too cold, build a shelter on high ground. Breezes will help keep the bugs away, and you’ll be easier to see if a search party passes nearby.

If a cold wind is blowing, choose a spot sheltered by trees. But don’t build in the bottom of deep valleys or ravines where cold air settles at night.

Other bad places to build a shelter includes anywhere the ground is damp or on mountaintops and open ridges where exposed to the wind. Again in the bottom of narrow valleys where cold collects at night.or washes where water runs when it rains.

If it’s almost dark and you can hurriedly collect dry debris (leaves, pine needles, bark) from the forest floor, make a pile two or three feet high and longer than you are tall. When you burrow into the pile, you are in a natural sleeping bag that protects against heat loss.

The simplest shelter is a fallen tree that has enough room under it for you to crawl in. Lean the branches against the windward side of the tree (so the wind is blowing into it and not against it) to make a wall.

Make the wall thick enough to keep out wind. If you can build a fire on the open side of your shelter, the heat will help keep you warm.

If you find a fallen tree without enough room under it, or a rock or a small overhang, you can build a simple lean-to. Start by leaning fallen limbs against the object, such as the top edge of an overhang, to create a wall.

Lean the limbs at an angle to help shield rain. Cover the leaning limbs with leaves, boughs, pine needles, bark or whatever the forest offers.

When you have built a thick wall, you can crawl underneath into your shelter. Remember to make your shelter no bigger than you need to fit you and anybody else with you.

The bigger the space, the harder it is to keep warm.

You can also build a lean-to by placing one end of a long stick across a low limb of a tree and propping up the other end of the stick with two more sticks. Tie the ends of the sticks together with your boot laces or belt.

Lean more sticks against the horizontal stick. Then pile leaves and other forest debris against the leaning sticks until you have a wall.

Once again, a fire on the open side of the lean-to will add much heat to your “room.”

If you can’t make a lean-to, you can make an A-frame shelter. You’ll need two sticks four or five feet long and one stick 10 to 12 feet long.

Prop the two shorter sticks up in the shape of the letter A. Prop the longer stick up at the top of the A. Tie the three sticks together where they meet. The three sticks will be in the shape of an A-frame tent with one end collapsed against the ground.

Now prop up more sticks against the longer stick, and pile forest debris against the sticks until you have an insulated shelter open at the high-end.

When you have a tarp, sheet of plastic or Space Blanket with you, and some rope or cord, tie a line between two trees. Tie it low to the ground with just enough room for you to lie beneath.

Stretch the tarp over the line. Place large rocks or logs on the ends of the tarp to hold it in place with the edges close to the ground. If it’s snowing, tie the line off higher on the trees. Steeper walls will shed snow better.

Now you have an emergency tent.

Your shelter is not complete until you have made a bed to lie in. Dry leaves work well.

Make your bed a little bigger than the space your body covers and at least eight inches thick. When you snuggle into it, you are ready for the unexpected night out.

The Nevada Supreme Court in Carson City has upheld felony convictions stemming from the group ACORN’s voter registration practices. A high court decision says it’s OK for Nevada to bar payments based on how many people someone registers or how many people of a particular party one registers.

The ruling stems from a 2008 case in which the community group ACORN hired people to register voters in Las Vegas. A Secretary of State investigation found a program called “blackjack” in which the group offered a $5 bonus if a canvasser registered 21 or more voters.

ACORN supervisor Amy Busefink pleaded an equivalent of no contest to two counts of conspiracy and was ordered to informal probation and community service. She appealed, but the Nevada Supreme Court says state law is constitutional.

A Las Vegas-area teacher mentioned by President Barack Obama during his first presidential campaign debate with Republican rival Mitt Romney said she wished she had fewer students so she could give them more attention. Claritssa Sanchez was the teacher who Obama said had students sitting on the floor during the first two weeks of school, using 10-year-old textbooks.

Sanchez met with Obama and introduced him at an August 22nd campaign rally at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas. White House officials said at the time that the average class size of Sanchez’s 10th-grade history and government class grew from 33 students when she began teaching in 2007 to 44 this year.

President Bill Clinton is heading to Las Vegas next week to campaign for Obama. The president’s campaign says that the former president will be in southern Nevada Tuesday for an unspecified event.

Clinton has appeared in TV commercials and made speeches on behalf of his fellow Democrat. Obama has been active trying to woo voters in the swing state of Nevada.

He spent three days at Lake Las Vegas preparing for Wednesday’s debate and has appeared eight other times throughout the state this year alone.

Obama’s campaign is also planning a get-out-the-vote event in Las Vegas featuring singer Jon Bon Jovi. The campaign says the Early Vote event is set for Saturday morning at the House of Blues inside the Mandalay Bay resort.

Jon Bon Jovi will perform a free acoustic show. Actors Aisha Tyler and Jesse Williams will also be at the event.

Tickets for the concert are available at some Obama campaign offices on a first-come, first-served basis. It’ll focus on the issues of the presidential election and encourage Nevada residents to vote as early as possible.

Remember when during MSNBC’s live coverage of the 2008 presidential primary elections, after the speeches of Barack Obama and John McCain had aired, Chris Matthews expressed his admiration for Obama’s speaking skills saying, “It’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.”

It’s safe to say for Matthews, the thrill is gone after last nights first of three debates between Prsident Obama and Mitt Romney.

“Tonight wasn’t an MSNBC debate tonight, was it?” Chris Matthews said after the debate concluded.

“I don’t know what he was doing out there. He had his head down, he was enduring the debate rather than fighting it. Romney, on the other hand, came in with a campaign. He had a plan, he was going to dominate the time, he was going to be aggressive, he was going to push the moderator around, which he did effectively, he was going to relish the evening, enjoying it,” Matthews said.

“Here’s my question for Obama: I know he likes saying he doesn’t watch cable television but maybe he should start. Maybe he should start. I don’t know how he let Romney get away with the crap he throughout tonight about Social Security,” Matthews complained.

Matthews then demanded that President Obama start watching cable news, specifically his program.

“Where was Obama tonight? He should watch — well, not just Hardball, Rachel, he should watch you, he should watch the Reverend Al, he should watch Lawrence. He would learn something about this debate. There’s a hot debate going on in this country. You know where it’s been held? Here on this network is where we’re having the debate,” Matthews said.

“We have our knives out,” Matthews said, admitting his network is trying their best to defend Obama and his policies. “We go after the people and the facts. What was he doing tonight? He went in their disarmed.”

“He was like, ‘Oh an hour and half? I think I can get through this thing. And I don’t even look at this guy.’ Whereas Romney — I love the split-screen — staring at Obama, addressing him like prey. He did it just right. ‘I’m coming at an incumbent. I got to beat him. You‘ve got to beat the champ and I’m going to beat him tonight. And I don’t care what this guy, the moderator, whatever he thinks he is because I’m going to ignore him,” Matthews said.

“What was Romney doing?” Matthews asked. “He was winning.”

“If he does five more of these nights, forget it,” Matthews added. “Obama should watch MSNBC, my last point. He will learn something every night on this show and all these shows. This stuff we’re watching, it’s like first grade for most of us. We know all this stuff.”

The hand drill is one of the simplest friction methods available.

First cut a notch in a large piece of wood, about the thickness of your forearm, using a rock or knife tip.  Now select a dry, hardened stick, no thicker than your thumb and about a foot long.

Secure the wood with a knee or under foot, put one end of the stick in the notch, clasp the stick between your palms and quickly rub them back and forth. Press hard downward as you do this and until the spinning stick produces an ember.

Transfer the ember into your tinder.  Once transferred, lightly blow on the ember until is becomes a visible flame.

Good sources of tinder include dried grasses, lichens, shavings of wood, windblown seed or fluff, paper, pocket lint and even hair. The tinder bundle should be roughly the size of a chicken egg and loosely formed to allow air circulation.

The flame produced by the ember is now ready to be laid in your all-ready prepared fire pit.  First, you must clear an area about five-feet from the center where you intend to have your fire.

The easiest method the Tepee.

In the center of your clearing, arrange more tinder and a few sticks of kindling in the shape of a tepee or cone. Place your burning tinder in the middle of the formation.

As the tepee burns, the outside logs will fall in, feeding the fire. This type of fire burns well even with wet wood.

Don’t forget to tend the fire throughout the night and keep up the coals by banking it during the day. Banking simply means to place a thick layer of ash-dust on top of the coals to keep them ready for their next use.

The settling of Lake Tahoe came in three stages: transportation, logging, and recreation.

Transportation was first, because of the immigration to California during the years of the Gold Rush. However, while the immigration routes around the lake were lower in elevation and shorter in distance, they were more difficult because they required two mountain crossings.

Wagon trains coming west by way of these routes had to cross the Carson Range on the east side of the lake, then scale the Sierra on the west side.

When immigration into California largely ceased as gold fever gave way to the Nevada silver boom, the immigration became emigration and roads from California to Nevada’s Comstock took on greater importance. Of the several roads constructed during these early years, it was the Placerville Toll Road — often called the Bonanza Road.

The Bonanza Road was not a single road, but a system of toll roads that formed a turnpike between Placerville, Genoa, Carson City, and other Comstock settlements. The road was the primary route from California to the Comstock, and was the predecessor to the three main highways in Lake Tahoe: U.S Highway 50, California Highway 89, and Nevada Highway 19.

During the 1860s ranching, dairy-farming and logging increased in the area. The Bonanza Road and the several other routes provided the way for goods to get to and from the mines.

Soon inns that had served teamsters and miners began to accommodate seasonal visitors. This was the beginning of the resort industry in Lake Tahoe.

Among the first to use the area for escape from the summer heat and the bustle of urban life were miners from Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Silver City. In 1864 the Bailey Hotel was built in Tahoe City.

The Grand Central followed shortly afterwards. The hotels were also patronized by men from the Nevada lumber camps who returned with glowing tales of the fishing and hunting at the lake.

Lumber operations around the lake primarily supplied lumber for the Comstock and its mines. The Glenbrook logging operation, owned by the Bliss family, was the largest and most famous.

When the lumber business declined for the Bliss operation, one of the sons leveled a mill site and built a modern hotel, turning the Glenbrook Inn into a popular lakeside resort. By 1871 vacationers to Tahoe could take the train from the Bay Area to Truckee and arrive by stage at the Grand Central Hotel in Tahoe City.

In 1872 the steamer Governor Stanford met the travelers at the wharf in Tahoe City to transport them to other points on the lake. During the 1870s and 1880s, the steamer also provided recreation.

Tourists could take all-day sightseeing trips around the lake, entertained by the ship’s orchestra for dinner and dancing.

As the boom on the Comstock came to a close around 1888, the resort industry was becoming increasingly important. The Southern Pacific Railroad, formerly the Central Pacific, brought tourists to Truckee and then by stagecoach to Tahoe City, where they could travel by steamer to other lakeside sites.

During the 1880s, over-water railroad spur tracks and sawmills could be found along the lake’s shore. By the 1890s these gave way to an array of hotels and casinos.

Summer-home developments which had been fashionable since the 1880s, now bloomed into full-fledged summer-home communities. Winter vacationing at the lake began in 1908.

Horse-drawn sleighs provided transportation from the railroad town of Truckee to the Tahoe Tavern, which was also built by the Bliss family, just south of Tahoe City, while the steamer Tahoe made the cross-lake connection to the south shore. The Tahoe Tavern was by then the busiest resort at the lake, catering to the wealthy of San Francisco.

The first 20th-century railroads in the Tahoe-Truckee area was the narrow gauge Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company. The miniature line ran between Truckee and Tahoe City.

The railroad was also constructed by the Bliss family. They used material from various lumber railroads in the area, abandoned because of depletion of timber.

The new line, which opened May 1, 1900, was a tourist railroad from the outset, although it also hauled some freight. It operated only during the tourist season, from May 15th to November 15th and ran four scheduled round trips daily  through 1915, but by 1920 it was cut to three.

In 1925 the LTR&TCo leased the railroad to Southern Pacific.  SP advertised the line nationwide, announcing that the old “American Canyon Route” was now the “Lake Tahoe Route” and would be converted to standard gauge.

The track conversion was completed May 1,1926. A balloon loop at the Tahoe Tavern allowed for the trains to be turned.

During the summer, a tourist could ride an overnight Pullman from the Oakland Pier to Tahoe City.  By 1926 winter vacations at Lake Tahoe had gained so much popularity that SP introduced the “Snow Ball” specials from San Francisco.

West of the Tahoe Tavern, where the Granlibakken ski area is now located, a ski jump and toboggan hill opened up new opportunities for winter sports. This line of the SP operated until November 10, 1943, put out of business by the automobile and World War II.

Passenger business on the LTR&TCo increased until better highways let tourists drive to the lake. Before 1913, when the roads became state highways, it had not been possible to drive through on the west side.

Once at the lake, 53 miles of highway went from the Nevada state line near Brockway, around the lake north-west and south.  In 1927, 14 miles of highway between Truckee and Tahoe City, and 12 miles between Tahoe City and the state line at Brockway were improved, as was the 11 mile stretch  between Tahoe City and Meeks Bay.

Tourists drove to the lake tended to stay for shorter periods and were generally looking a wilderness experience. This led to the creation of Camp Richardson, which offered small rustic cabins to tourists for weekend stays.

The improved roads and growing familiarity with the area played a large role in inspiring vacationers to build their own summer cabins at the lake.

In 1927, there arrived on the scene in north Lake Tahoe a young man by the name of Norman Biltz. He was born in Connecticut in 1902, of wealthy parents.

He left the east coast for California in about 1920, where in his first few years of residence he held a wide variety of jobs, mostly menial. In 1927 he became associated with Robert Sherman, a wealthy San Francisco real estate promoter.

As Sherman’s partner in his Brockway-Tahoe Vista Corporation, Biltz embarked on selling land in north Lake Tahoe to San Franciscans, and acted as contractor for the original Cal-Neva Lodge in Crystal Bay. Sherman built the Cal-Neva as a guest house for prospective buyers of his Lake Tahoe real estate.

But Biltz partnership with Sherman ended in 1928 when Sherman went bankrupt. Sherman gave Biltz the Cal-Neva in lieu of money Sherman owed him.

Biltz borrowed $50,000, incorporated the Crystal Bay Corporation, bought thousands of acres at north Lake Tahoe from the Blisses, and struck out on his own promotional odyssey. Understanding that the new tax laws in California and other states would tax the wealthy unduly, he saw the advantages to them in Nevada’s far more lenient laws.

He studied 200 multi-millionaires with an eye to selling them land in Nevada so they could escape the taxes in their home states. He got the support of then-governor Fred Balzar, who gave him a letter that essentially said that “he was sure [Biltz and his associates] would state the advantageous tax laws of Nevada honestly, but if [they] made a mistake, he would attempt to make [the state’s tax laws] fit [their] mistake.”

They produced and sent to each prospect a special magazine called Nevada: The Last Frontier, which they bound in leather and embossed with the prospect’s name. Biltz learned the likes and dislikes of every one of the prospective buyers and after making the sale, worked to keep them happy so they would stay in Nevada.

The first millionaire he brought to Lake Tahoe was Jim Stack, who had made his fortune in stock holdings of Quaker Oats. To get Stack to stay, Biltz lived with him for six months.

This was typical of the lengths he went to convince his buyers of the advantage of living in Nevada. He took the buyers hunting, fishing, golfing.

He spent day, weeks, even months keeping the buyers happy. He started a construction company and built their houses for them, even found them servants. The theory was that once sold on Nevada, the buyers would go back to their home states and become salesmen for the state themselves.

Among the millionaires Biltz sold Tahoe property to were Max Fleischmann, of Fleischmann’s yeast, E.L. Cord, creator of the Cord automobile, the family of E.W. Scripps, the newspaper publisher, Cornelius Vanderbilt , Rex Bell and several other Hollywood stars. All in all he sold Lake Tahoe property to approximately 75 millionaires.

In about 1930 Biltz married Esther Auchincloss, aunt to Jacqueline Kennedy. Over the years he became very influential in Nevada politics and very wealthy, with interests in numerous areas ranging from developing, to ranching, to mining and oil leasing.

When ranchers in Nevada lost their land during the depression, Biltz sold the ranches to wealthy men from out of state (including Bing Crosby), putting the land back in service and money back into Nevada’s economy.

He helped prepare and distribute the “One Sound State” program booklet, promoting Nevada nationwide, and produced a full color magazine-type publication, entitled “Nevada, The Last Frontier,” to lure the nation’s wealthy to the state.

He was close friends with many of the state’s movers and shakers, as well as with influential men at the national level. When Fortune magazine wrote a story about him, they dubbed him the “Duke of Nevada.”

“So, be patient, perseverant, and stationed,” al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula commander Tariq Dhahab said in early January. “The Islāmic Caliphate is coming, with permission from Allah, and it  will be established, even if we sacrifice our own skulls, money, children and  homes.”

Calls for limiting freedom of expression to prevent denigrating attacks on Islam are being made at the United Nations. Foreign ministers from Algeria and Malaysia say such limits are needed after the violent demonstrations provoked by a video produced in the U.S. that mocks Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad.

Some two dozen people died in the violence, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, one of his staffers and two Navy SEALS.

The head of the U.N. Organization of Islāmic Cooperation says such offenses should be equated with hate speech. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of Islāmic Cooperation, says demonstrations throughout Muslim countries this month provoked by the video “Innocence of Muslims” underscores why legislation is needed.

Ihsanoglu said that while he strongly condemns the violence, a balance had to be struck between free speech and incitement adding that considering the reverence 1.5 billion Muslims have for their religion’s founder, any offense to the Prophet Muhammad’s character should be considered with the gravity given hate speech. His call echoed the views of other Islāmic scholars and leaders, who have urged the U.N. and international bodies to define global standards on religious expression and to help prevent incitement.

As leaders called for a ban on free-speech, hundreds of Libyans converged on a main square in Benghazi and another in Tripoli in response to a call from the military to hand over their weapons, including armored personnel carriers, tanks, vehicles with mounted anti-aircraft guns and hundreds of rocket launchers. The call by the Libyan chiefs of staff was first promoted on a private TV station in August.

It gained traction however in the wake of the attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The incident has been followed by a popular uproar against armed militias which have increasingly challenged government authorities.

In response, the government called on all militias to disband or join a command center coordinating between the army and the militias. The government had relied on many militias for security during the turmoil following last year’s ouster and murder of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The government previously estimated over 200,000 people in Libya are armed.

And while Libyan’s rally, Italy’s foreign minister says the option of an Israeli attack against Iranian nuclear facilities is a concrete possibility. Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said that added pressure on the Islāmic Republic from the European Union is expected in coming weeks, which could help jump start negotiations over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

The card of military intervention by Israel to hit Iranian nuclear sites…is certainly a card that is still on the table,” Terzi told The Associated Press. “I consider it an option of last resort.”

European nations are seeking to agree on a new round of sanctions against Iran at a meeting next month. Meanwhile, Iran insists its program is solely for peaceful energy and scientific research purposes.