SNELLVILLE, Ga. - Mitt Romney responded today to President Obama's speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, saying the "president has failed" with sanctions against Iran and warning that if he is re-elected, "Iran will have a nuclear weapon."

"This president has failed," Romney said. "I understand he just gave an address today talking about all the great things he's done to provide greater peace and reduce the threat from Iran. That hasn't happened. This president failed to speak out when the dissidents took the streets in Tehran, he had nothing to say."

Earlier today Obama addressed AIPAC and discussed the situating in Iran, saying that he "firmly" believes "that an opportunity remains for diplomacy - backed by pressure - to succeed," adding that "the only way to solve this problem is for the Iranian government to make a decision to forsake nuclear weapons."

But today Romney challenged Obama's statements in an answer to a question posed by an 11-year-old boy who had come to hear him speak at a pancake breakfast just outside of Atlanta.

"This is a president who has failed to put in place crippling sanctions against Iran," Romney told the boy, who had asked what Romney would do to protect Israel from Iran.

"He's also failed to communicate that military options are on the table and in fact in our hand," Romney said. "And that it's unacceptable to America for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

"If Barack Obama gets re-elected, Iran will have a nuclear weapon and the world will change if that's the case," he said. "Because if the world's sponsor of terror, if the nation that sponsors terror - Hezbollah, Hamas, and so forth and by the way Hezbollah now in Latin America as well - if they have fissile material, then the world has changed.

"And I'm not willing to allow your generation to have to worry about a threat from Iran or anyone else that nuclear material be used against Americans," Romney said.

Romney is scheduled to address AIPAC on Tuesday morning via satellite from Ohio.