WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., urged tougher unilateral sanctions against Iran and Syria, saying the United Nations is ineffective.
Sanctions against Syria are stalled at the U.N. Security Council because of objections from veto-wielding China and Russia. Washington has said it was considering a variety of actions against Iran, meanwhile, because of the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi envoy to the United States on U.S. soil.
Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was becoming increasingly clear that the United Nations can't act as an adequate deterrent.
"Working with responsible nations -- democratic allies -- to increase the pressure on Iran is one thing," she said in a statement. "But waiting for the United Nations to do what's right as the threat from Iran and Syria grows is foolhardy and dangerous."
The Florida lawmaker pushed a measure through the House this week that proposes cutting U.S. funding to the United Nations to 50 percent until a voluntary funding scheme is put in place.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a letter to Ros-Lehtinen, said "engagement through the United Nations comes at a fraction of the cost of acting alone."
Ros-Lehtinen has tried repeatedly to cut funding to the United Nations. The world body, she said in August, is "plagued by scandal, mismanagement and inaction."
