Liberman works for Jewish Intrests
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US senator to push 'tough dialogue' law
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER
WASHINGTON
US Senator Joe Lieberman told The Jerusalem Post Monday that any engagement with Iran must come with "not just carrots but sticks" and that he is introducing legislation to deliver just that.
"The message to Israel and the leaders of the Arab countries in the Middle East, who are very worried about Iran getting a nuclear weapon is that there are a group of senators, a bipartisan group, that accept engagement with Iran, support it, but understand that there have to be not just carrots but sticks, and these sanctions are a big stick," Lieberman said.
Earlier Monday, during an appearance before the American Enterprise Institute, he urged the Obama administration to adopt a strict timeline and benchmarks for any diplomatic strategy it pursues with Teheran.
The administration needed "a clear plan of action for the months ahead that has goals and schedules and teeth," and among them must be "a clear and credible set of benchmarks, milestones by which we can measure Iranian behavior, and an explicit timeline by which the Iranians understand that we must start seeing results," he said.
Lieberman called on the Obama administration to develop such a timeframe with allies so that Iran "does not view engagement as a process without an end."
"It's worth this effort of engagement and negotiation both in the hope that it works and also to that we try everything we can short of military power - which remains an option, though not a preferred one," he said.
At the same time, pressure on Iran must be increased as part of the engagement effort, he said. To that end, Lieberman said that on Tuesday he and 20 other senators would propose legislation tightening sanctions on exporting refined petroleum to Iran.
Lieberman noted that during the US presidential campaign, Barack Obama pushed to use Iran's dependence on foreign companies for refined petroleum as a place where effective international pressure could be applied, and expressed hope that would translate into White House approval for the bill.
He noted that the list of co-sponsors encompassed leading liberal and conservative members, including Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and John Thune (R-South Dakota), arguing that a broad coalition existed for quick passage of the measure.
A companion bill has already been introduced by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) in the House.
The State Department did not have an immediate comment as to whether it would support the legislation.
Lieberman also warned those who think that deterrence can work with Iran as it did with the Soviet Union, noting that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty didn't exist during America's arm race with Moscow. He also pointed out that a major risk of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is that it would increase the chance of them reaching the hands of terrorists, which would hurt the effectiveness of deterrence because it would be harder to threaten retaliation against a stateless and elusive enemy.
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