'I applaud today's United Nations Security Council vote to significantly expand both the scale and scope of Iran sanctions,' said senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
US lawmakers today applauded the UN Security Council for imposing fourth round of economic sanctions on Iran and congratulated president Barack Obama calling it his major diplomatic victory as he successfully garnered the support of Russia and China on this issue.
"I applaud today's United Nations Security Council vote to significantly expand both the scale and scope of Iran sanctions," said senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"These measures give the Obama administration and the international community important new political and economic
tools to moderate Iran's behaviour and curtail its nuclear
weapons ambitions," he said.
President Obama helped lay the groundwork for today's Security Council resolution through his outreach to the Iranian people and its leaders, Kerry said.
"His efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program demonstrate the United States' commitment to multilateralism and increased international cooperation.
The vote today is tangible evidence of growing international consensus on this matter," he noted.
Congressman Howard L Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the passage of a new Iran sanctions resolution is a significant diplomatic triumph for the Obama Administration, and particularly Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations.
"The resolution is a powerful statement of opposition by the international community to Iran's ongoing nuclear weapons program and a critical step in strengthening the multilateral sanctions regime intended to persuade Iran to suspend that program," Berman said.
"We now look to the European Union and other key nations that share our deep concern about Iran's nuclear intentions to build on the Security Council resolution by imposing tougher national measures that will deepen Iran's isolation and, hopefully, bring the Iranian leadership to its senses," he said.
However, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, termed it
as a weak resolution.
"This resolution, full of loopholes, will not stop Iran's march towards nuclear weapons or influence the regime's behaviour in any way. That the US put all our eggs in the UN basket - and got this goose-egg in return - is a disaster," she said.
Like its predecessors, this resolution has no means of effective enforcement. It implicitly discourages nations from taking further action. And it doesn't even prohibit Russia from selling S-300 missiles to Iran, Ros-Lehtinen said.
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