[A-List] US Senators Threaten Sanctions, Military Acts Against Iran, 'Hardball' Against Russia, China

[tony black]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rick Rozoff
To: Stop NATO
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 3:58 PM
Subject: [stopnato] US Senators Threaten Sanctions, Military Acts Against 
Iran, 'Hardball' Against Russia, China


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/politics/16sanctioncnd.html


New York Times
International Herald Tribune
January 15, 2006


Senators Voice Support for Sanctions Against Iran
By BRIAN KNOWLTON


WASHINGTON - Senators from both parties expressed
strong support today for economic sanctions against
Iran unless it halts its nuclear activities, and a few
would not rule out military options.

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on
CBS that the United States should press for sanctions
even if that led to higher oil prices.

Another Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, pointed to tougher measures, saying that
"all options," a phrase generally implying use of
military force, should be kept open.

But Mr. Graham, speaking on the Fox News Channel, said
that "we need to work together with our European
allies," none of which have condoned military force
against Iranian targets, to stop Tehran from
developing a nuclear weapon.

Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, said
that he agreed with Mr. Graham. But noting that only
Russia or China were likely to block a sanctions vote
at the United Nations Security Council, Mr. Schumer
said that if necessary, "we ought to play hardball
with them."

Two other senators - Trent Lott, Republican of
Mississippi, and Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana -
strongly supported economic sanctions but said that
the use of force would be premature.

"We should impose economic sanctions unless there's
some dramatic change in the Iranian position," Senator
Lott said on CNN. As for military force, he said, "We
have the capability, we could take action, but it
would be difficult, and we have to see if there are
other options."

Senator Bayh said that "Iran is a menace they have to
be dealt with, through economic, political and
cultural steps." But force "should not be an option at
this point," he added. "We ought to use everything
else possible."

On Thursday, Germany, France, Britain and the European
Union jointly declared an end to negotiations with
Iran, a move endorsed by Washington, after Tehran said
it would remove special seals from its uranium
enrichment equipment and resume activities Western
experts have linked to bomb development.

On Friday, President Bush and Chancellor Angela Merkel
of Germany said after meeting in Washington that they
would step up pressure on Iran at the Security Council
to abandon nuclear activities that could be part of a
weapons program. But they would not predict what
sanctions Iran might face.

China, France and Japan have indicated a reluctance,
for now, to endorse sanctions against Iran, which has
10 percent of the world's oil reserves and the second
largest gas reserves. China, which imports 300,000
barrels of oil a day from Iran, is the most hesitant.

But The New York Times reported on Friday that
American and European diplomats now believed that
Russia and China would join a growing consensus that
the International Atomic Energy Agency board should
refer the matter to the Security Council, if only to
register a broad international condemnation of the
Tehran government's pursuit of unacceptable nuclear
research activity.




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