DAVID SCOTT - CONGRESSMAN, REPRESENTING GEORGIA'S 13TH DISTRICT

Washington, Nov 11 - *This release was sent by the Nato Parliamentary Assembly of which Rep. Scott is a delegate. http://www.nato-pa.int/Default.asp?CAT2=0&CAT1=0&CAT0=0&SHORTCUT=3045

Prague, 11 November, 2012 - Allied lawmakers drafted a strongly worded warning to Iran over its nuclear programme Sunday, urging tougher sanctions if the government in Tehran continues to avoid substantial talks.

“We are approaching a D-Day type decision at this moment in history. We cannot allow Iran to become a nuclear weapons capable state, let alone a nuclear armed one,” said US Congressman David Scott. “Iran has a choice to make. It can clear up all the outstanding issues and commit to a purely civilian nuclear programme or it can become a pariah state and be further ostracized from the international community,” Scott said.

Scott’s draft resolution condemning Iran’s non-compliance with UN and IAEA resolutions on its nuclear programme was adopted by the Science and Technology Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The full 257-seat Assembly is expected to approve the resolution in a vote Monday on the final day of its annual session in Prague.

The draft urged the governments and parliaments of the North Atlantic Alliance to work together to find a diplomatic outcome to the Iran nuclear dispute and to intensify efforts to offer Iran a package of positive incentives that could convince it to find a viable solution, such as exploring the establishment of a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East.

Scott said the resolution should send the Iranian authorities a clear message that the international community will not allow them to develop nuclear weapons and that they should accept a peaceful diplomatic solution before it’s too late.

“A peaceful and negotiated solution is the most desirable one. Letting the sanctions run their course lies at the heart of the strategy to get Iran to a place where they will come around the fact that such a solution is in its long-term security interest,” he told the Committee. “However, I also strongly believe that all options need to be in play – at the end of the day, even a military strike.”

In the draft resolution, lawmakers noted “with grave concern that Iran is moving ever-closer to a position where it could develop nuclear weapons if it so chooses.” It recognized “such a capacity would present a threat to regional stability, global security and the nuclear non-proliferation regime as well as to the vital interests of certain states” and acknowledged “that a time may come when those states take pre-emptive action.”

NATO governments and parliaments should “prepare a new set of sanctions, with the broadest possible participation, and impose them if it becomes clear that Iran continues to avoid engaging in substantial talks,” the draft says.