Lugar: Get very tough with Iran

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged the United States Sunday to get "very tough" to prevent Iran from making a nuclear bomb.

"We're going to have to get very tough" said Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Inc., when asked how to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons.

Iran denies working a nuclear-weapons project, but says it will continue its program to enrich uranium to produce electric power. The United States rejects the Iranian argument, saying an oil-rich country such as Iran does not need nuclear technology to produce electricity.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Lugar said: "The Iranians are moving toward weaponization of the uranium experiment that they have. And they've been clearly doing this. I suspect to begin with economic sanctions on Iran ... but not ruling out at the end of the day military sanctions against Iran."

Asked would the United States support a preemptive strike, such as Israel's against Iraq in 1981, to end Iran's nuclear program, Lugar said, "I'm not going to speculate for a moment on a preemptive strike or any specific action."