Leading Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said Tuesday if elected, he will buttress diplomacy with a military option in a bid to press Iran to abandon its ambitions to acquire a nuclear bomb.

In an op-ed piece penned for the Washingon Post, Romney said his plan includes restoring the regular presence of aircraft carrier groups in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf region simultaneously, in addition to increasing military assistance to Israel and improved coordination with all of U.S. allies in the area.

Recalling the U.S. hostage crisis with Iran in late 1979, when dozens of U.S. diplomats were held by Iran for 444 days, Romney slammed U.S. President Barack Obama for being as "feckless" as then Democratic President Jim Carter in dealing with the Iranian government. The U.S. hostages were released on Jan. 20, 1981.

"While Obama frets in the White House, the Iranians are making rapid progress toward obtaining the most destructive weapons in the history of the world," Romney wrote.