Mr. Panetta and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates have argued that a military strike would at best delay Iran's nuclear development for a few years.

WSJ: Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran

Centrica is explicit that there will be an indeterminate delay to the building of new nuclear power plants following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

BBC: Centrica: Reward for owners, pain for customers

And China, which is building more than twice as many new reactors as Russia, the next fastest-growing nuclear power adopter, could be forced to delay its development, Mr. Carter said.

WSJ: Uranium Firms Take Hit After Earthquake

It is also unlikely to help those countries like Britain that are trying to obstruct and delay what they suspect is an Iranian nuclear weapons programme - a programme Tehran denies.

BBC: Why Iran's capture of US drone will shake CIA

Clinton said that every year of delay in ratifying the treaty increases the probability that nuclear weapons will spread to regions with intense national rivalries and to rogue leaders and perhaps even to terrorists.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | Politics and the Test Ban Treaty, By George F. Will, Newsweek, 20 October 1999

The proposed plan would retire seven cruisers early, delay construction of the next large-deck amphibious warfare ship by one year, cancel the second Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) in 2014, delay construction of two smaller amphibious warfare ships, and reduce procurement of littoral combat ships by two and joint high speed vessels by eight.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Section IV: Building a Two-MRC Force for the 21st Century

The councillors were due to come to a decision last year but asked for a delay - this week is crunch time for Cumbria's nuclear waste dump vote.

BBC: Cumbria's nuclear decision has 100,000 year legacy

The chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has called for access to Iran's Parchin military site "without further delay" and without waiting for negotiations to make progress.

BBC: IAEA demands Iran nuclear access to Parchin site