By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The UN Security Council must deliver a strong statement that "gets the Iranians' attention" when it addresses Tehran's disputed nuclear weapons program for the first time in the coming days, US Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday.
Bolton and other senior US officials suggested that if the Security Council doesn't take tough action, the United States might look elsewhere to punish Iran - possibly by rallying its allies to impose targeted sanctions.
"We're going to press for as vigorous a response in the council as we can get and hope that that gets the Iranians' attention,"' Bolton told reporters. "If the Iranians do not back off from their continued aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons, we'll have to make a decision of what the next step will be."