Hillary Clinton accused Iran of trying to build an atomic bomb and said that as US president she would not rule out a military strike to end Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Mrs Clinton said that Iran must not be allowed to build or acquire nuclear weapons. If Tehran did not bow to the demands of the international community, she said, “all options must remain on the table”, the precise words used by President Bush when asked about the possibility of military action.

Mrs Clinton said that unlike Mr Bush she would seek direct talks with Tehran. But she sounded a strikingly hawkish note on Iran as she laid out the foreign policy that she would pursue if elected president - a prescription of muscular US multilateralism.

She declared that the world still wanted America to lead it and that as president she would restore its global standing by reaching out to both allies and enemies.

Mrs Clinton said that the US had been greatly damaged by the Bush Administration’s belligerent unilateralism and that America was now widely disliked and distrusted.

But, she insisted, “our allies do not want it to be this way. American leadership is wanting, but is still wanted. The next president will have a moment of opportunity to convince the world that America can lead once again. I will seize that opportunity by reintroducing ourselves to the world.”

She added that, once in the White House, she would seek to “reach out across the Atlantic to a new generation of leaders in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. When America and Europe work together, global objectives are within our means.”

Mrs Clinton, writing in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, did not mention her husband Bill. This month the former President said that if his wife won the White House, she would make him a roving world ambassador to restore America’s image abroad. “I will ensure the United States is committed to building a world we want, rather than defending a world we fear,” Mrs Clinton said.

Mrs Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for her party’s nomination who, polls suggest, stands a significant chance of becoming America’s first female president next year, said that ending the war in Iraq was the “first step” to restoring America’s global leadership. She said that within 60 days of entering the White House she would present a plan to bring US troops home, while establishing a regional diplomatic initiative to stabilise the country.

She refused to specify how many US troops she would withdraw. She also said that she would leave an unspecified number in Iraq to fight al-Qaeda and train Iraqi forces, a clear sign that she knows that ending the war will be a difficult challenge.

“She doesn’t seem to have a clear plan for Iraq,” said Stephen Grand, a Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank. “I’m not sure anyone has. It’s hard to be convinced that within 60 days one could come up with a plan to bring the troops home.”

Mrs Clinton emphasised the need for the US to work through international organisations, a clear reference to the UN. She said she would seek Senate approval of the Nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

She said America’s relationship with China would be “the most important relationship in the world in this century”. She would also make the fight against global warming a priority. There has been speculation that Mrs Clinton would appoint Al Gore as an environmental ambassador. But it is unclear if he would accept.

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