Panetta, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," also reiterated the tough US stance toward Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is vital for oil shipping in the Gulf, saying the United States would not "tolerate" it.
"That's another red line for us and ... we will respond to them," he said.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told "Face the Nation" Iran had been investing in the weapons they would need to close the strait but the United States had been working to "ensure if that happens, we can defeat that."
"The simple answer is, 'Yes, they can block it,'" he said. "But we would take action and reopen the strait."
Asked whether it would be difficult to take out Iran's nuclear capability, Dempsey said it was his job to plan and understand the risks associated with any military option and "all those activities are going on."
Pressed on whether the United States could take out Iran's nuclear sites without using nuclear weapons, Dempsey would only say: "I absolutely want them to believe that that's the case."
"They need to know that ... if they take that step, they are going to get stopped," Panetta added.
The United States is concerned that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at producing a weapon, but Tehran insists it is for peaceful energy production.
The tough talk comes days after President Barack Obama unveiled a new military strategy that calls for a smaller force as the United States cuts US$487 billion (RM1.538 trillion) in projected defence spending over the next decade in an effort to deal with the nation's US$14 trillion debt.
The new strategy, which is meant to identify spending priorities as the military cuts back, calls for greater emphasis on Asia even as the Army and Marines shrink to become smaller and more agile forces.
Not 'military in decline' — Dempsey
Dempsey said he worried that some countries might misunderstand the debate Americans are having over changing strategy and the need to cut defence spending.
"There may be some around the world who see us as a nation in decline, and worse, as a military in decline. And nothing could be further from the truth," Dempsey said.
He said such a miscalculation could be "troublesome" in dealing with countries like Iran or North Korea. Panetta said US rivals should not misunderstand the situation.
"I think the message that the world needs to understand is: America is the strongest military power and we intend to remain the strongest military power and nobody ought to mess with that," he said.
Obama and Congress agreed in August to cut some US$487 billion in defence spending over the next decade. As part of the August deal, defense spending could be cut by another US$600 billion unless Congress compromises on an alternative.
Congress missed a deadline for reaching a compromise that could have stopped the new defence cuts, but it could still take action to override the spending reductions before they are due to go into force next year.
Obama, in unveiling the new defense strategy at a Pentagon news conference on Thursday, noted that even with the US$487 trillion in cuts to projected spending, the defence budget would continue to grow in nominal terms.
He also said the US defence budget would still be by far the world's largest — roughly the size of the 10 next-biggest defence budgets combined.
If the second round of defence cuts takes place, the Pentagon's base budget would fall to roughly US$472 billion in fiscal 2013 — about the level of fiscal 2007 in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to an analysis by Todd Harrison of the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
That represents a real cut of about 11 per cent. It would remain at roughly the same level for about eight years, growing only at about the pace of inflation, Harrison's analysis said.
Panetta told National Public Radio yesterday the Pentagon was not ready for cuts of that magnitude.
"If we had to do over a trillion dollars in cuts in this department, I have to tell you that the strategy that we developed, we'd probably have to throw that out the window and start over," he said.
Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod downplayed the likelihood that the second round of cuts would actually occur, telling ABC's "This Week" programme, "We expect we're going to deal with that ... during the course of this year." — Reuters
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