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OXFORD — The greatest threats the United States faces in this decade are from Iran, North Korea and terrorists groups pursuing weapons of mass destruction, according to John Bolton.

"Today, we have the comparative luxury that there is no military power in the world — no combination of powers — that constitutes a real threat to the U.S.," Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told a crowd of about 200 at Miami University Tuesday night.

"But we do face in the form of these weapons of mass destruction a kind of terrorist instrument that while it possesses no military risk it can be used to hold hostage innocent civilian populations in the U.S. and our friends allies around the world."

Furthermore, he said, "Our future security and the security of our friends and allies, and indeed the entire civilized world depends on preventing the further proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction."

Bolton said while the threat of mass destruction is worldwide, the most important threats the U.S. faces at the moment are from North Korean and Iran.

"These two states currently engage in various substantial cooperation in their ballistic missile programs," he said.

Then Bolton asked the audience what these two governments are trying to accomplish and what threats do they pose for the U.S. around the world.

In the case of North Korea, he said under "the government of Kim Jong II, the world's only hereditary communist dictatorship and three-time loser, they have been pursuing nuclear weapons for several decades as part of a concerted strategy to gain leverage over their neighbors," he said.