Agence France Presse – Key US Senator Richard Lugar called for strict UN sanctions against Iran if its fails to allay fears it is seeking nuclear weapons capability.
But Lugar, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also restated Washington’s commitment to multilateral diplomacy in the Iran nuclear crisis.
"If Iran does not comply with UN resolutions and arms agreements, the Security Council must apply strict and enforceable sanctions," Lugar, a Republican, said in an address to the 15-member council.
"Failure to do so will severely damage the credibility of a painstaking diplomatic approach and call into question the world’s commitment to controlling the spread of nuclear weapons," he added.
"The precedent of inaction in this case would greatly increase the chances of military conflict and could set off regional arms races."
Russia and China, two veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council that maintain close economic and energy ties with Tehran, have indicated they do not favor sanctions on Iran at this stage.
Iran said Monday it had formally notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its decision to restart sensitive nuclear work in response to Saturday’s vote by the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors to report Tehran to the UN Security Council.
Tehran also decided to halt snap IAEA inspections — bringing an abrupt end to the "confidence-building" steps it had agreed to with Britain, France and Germany in 2003.
Senior Iranian officials played down the threat of sanctions and the danger of military strikes, emphasizing the Islamic republic’s vast oil wealth and asserting that "nobody would dare to attack" the country.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and that under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it signed it has the right to conduct uranium enrichment activities to generate electricity.
"The world must be decisive in responding to nations that are violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or other international arms agreements," Lugar said. "Diplomatic confrontations are preferable to military ones."
Speaking to reporters after delivering his speech to the Security Council, Lugar stressed however that Washington was committed to "a strong diplomatic approach".
He also made it clear that Washington did not favor Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel has indicated that it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Asked whether Washington might consider bilateral talks with Iran over the crisis, Lugar said: "Such a course is conceivable but the course for the United States we have been encouraged to follow is a multilateral approach simply because if collective action is required at the United Nations this is going to require something beyond the United States."
"Some type of relationship with Iran may turn out to be useful," he noted.
