Courier press — Sen. Richard Lugar maintains the time has arrived to step up sanctions against Iran for flouting international demands that it abandon its nuclear program, and he raised questions about what steps President Barack Obama's administration might take once its offer of engagement reaches "the end of its shelf life.''
Lugar, R-Ind., the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a Tuesday hearing that Iran continues to represent "a direct threat to U.S. national security, as well as to the security of Israel and that of our other friends in the region.''
"The exact status of Iran's nuclear program and the degree of progress it has made toward a potential nuclear weapon continue to be debated,'' Lugar said. "But Tehran clearly is not complying with the international nonproliferation regime.''
Iran continues to prove difficult. Lugar noted that the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency asserted the country refuses to cooperate with his organization, and there also was the revelation of a clandestine enrichment facility.
Beyond the nuclear program, Iran also has provided material and financial support to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Concerns about this were augmented earlier this year by reports of Iran's transfer of long-range rockets to Hezbollah via Syria.
The U.S. has responded with sanctions, Lugar said, but that initiative will succeed only with the cooperation of other nations.
"Restraining Iran's nuclear program requires significant cooperation with allies and partners, most of whom have commercial interests with Iran and independent views about the Tehran regime,'' Lugar said.
He added that "greater international unity is vital, not only to materially inhibit Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions and raise the costs of Iran's noncompliance, but also to demonstrate international resolve that can help deter other states from violating commitments and pursuing nuclear weapons."
Lugar has warned about the danger imposed by Iran for some time. Last year, he warned that Tehran "would like to split the international community, or at least delay concerted action.''
America's task, he said, is "to solidify an international consensus in favor of a plan that presents the Iranian regime with a stark choice between the benefits of accepting verifiable limitations on its nuclear program and the detriments of proceeding along its current course.''
With that in mind, Lugar welcomed several recent steps from the international community. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on June 9 that will add incrementally to already imposed sanctions. Meanwhile, the European Union is imposing new sanctions, including a ban on investment by companies in Iran's oil and gas industry.
Lugar took aim at the Obama administration, saying it is "past time'' for the White House to weigh in on an expanded unilateral U.S. sanctions program toward Iran. House and Senate negotiators on Monday produced legislation targeting exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran while prohibiting U.S. banks from dealing with foreign banks that offer financial services to Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
Lugar and others maintain that previous sanctions failed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and Middle East stability could be weakened unless new measures are imposed.
