Democratic Senators Split on How to Handle Iran

Democratic senators are fractured on the issue of whether President Barack Obama should mount a stronger stand against Iran, The Hill reports. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., are pushing a resolution that would forbid accepting Iran as a regional power with nuclear strike capability.

Some Democratic senators, such as Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, support that measure. And Graham, McCain, and Lieberman are scrambling to gain more Democratic support. But many Democrats are reluctant to cross Obama on a national security issue during an election year.

Democrats are worried that voting for the resolution will alienate liberal voters, who view it as a move toward authorizing military action against Iran.

But Graham, McCain, and Lieberman, in addition to others, are concerned that Obama sees Iranian development of a nuclear weapon as inevitable. They fear that the president is set to deploy a containment policy along the lines of the one deployed against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Recent events have increased cause for concern. On Monday, Israel accused Iran of planning bomb attacks against its embassy workers in India and Georgia.