US lawmakers vowed Sunday to take up swift and severe sanctions against Iran, as reports emerged the UN nuclear watchdog concluded Tehran has the know-how to build an atomic bomb.
A chorus of congressional voices, both Republican and Democratic, urged tough action against Tehran following a New York Times report that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has determined Iran now has "sufficient information" to build a nuclear weapon.
US lawmakers said the revelation warranted an immediate and severe response.
"The Iranians will have a nuclear weapon if something doesn't change their minds. We need tough sanctions. We need to do them now," Democratic Senator Evan Bayh told "Fox News Sunday."
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a leading congressional voice on defence and security matters, said he would like Congress to set aside a week dedicated to a raft of new sanctions legislation against the Islamic republic.
"Let's have Iran week in the Senate and get something done," he said, proposing to discuss a series of measures "that would empower the president and our country to be tough and to put actions behind words."
Lawmakers said they still supported US initiatives to engage Tehran in talks, but were losing faith in the prospect that diplomacy alone will force Iran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program. Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss said talks with Iran would yield more results with sanctions already in place. "Let's impose sanctions, let's get our allies together and say this is what we're going to do," he said.