WASHINGTON — A key US Democrat wants the Senate to delay approval of an Iran sanctions bill he helped write, arguing he now is willing to give Tehran one more chance.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey is the co-author of a measure with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., that would slap tougher sanctions on Iran if ongoing talks with five Western countries fail to bear fruit by July. The Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over international sanctions legislation, is slated to mark up the bill on Thursday.

But at the start of a Banking Committee hearing Tuesday about the ongoing "P5+1 talks," Menendez said he now wants to put off any floor action on the bill until late March should the panel approve it this week.

"A longer, more orderly process" would let lawmakers better understand the range of "implications" any new sanctions might spawn, he said.

The new course came after media reports this week of an intra-party squabble among Democrats — and with the White House — over new Iran sanctions.

Menendez said he other Democrats have notified President Barack Obama in a letter that they will not give their support to any sanctions legislation that hits the Senate floor before March 24.

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Should the P5+1 talks ultimately fail to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear arms program, Menendez said, the "only option" might be a "military option" or "living with a nuclear Iran."

"Neither are desirable," he added.

Menendez was forceful in his questioning of Obama administration officials, raising his voice to criticize them because he believes "Iran is cheating during negotiations."

The Senate's No. 3 Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he signed the letter to Obama. It states clearly that the group of signatories "will not vote for the bill on the floor" before March 24.

But Schumer intends to vote in favor of passing it out of the Banking Committee come Thursday "so a bill is ready to go" should the P5+1 talks show no progress by late March.

Banking Committee Democrat after Democrat on Tuesday expressed support for Menendez's new timeline.

For instance, Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly said he "strongly supports" the Kirk-Menendez bill. But he voiced support for putting off a floor vote until after March 24.

Democrats attempted to send a message to Iran., with Donnelly saying Should Tehran fail to budge during the talks by March 24, Donnelly said, "we should move this forward decisively."

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., said if March 24 comes and goes without the kind of progress Menendez and others desire, "we should come in here and say, 'Enough is enough,' or let [new] sanctions move forward."

Banking Committee Republicans were unified in moving the sanctions bill to the Senate floor for debate and votes as soon as possible.

"I think Congress should act now," Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said, adding that new sanctions would, for Tehran, "raise the cost" of a nuclear weapons arsenal to an "unacceptably high level."

Toomey and other GOP members want President Barack Obama to insist that Iranian officials agree to stop enriching any uranium.

Obama administration officials on Tuesday told the committee that under an interim agreement with Iran, enrichment levels are capped below those needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken warned the committee that imposing new economic hardships on Iran runs the risk of "fatally undermining our diplomacy" and jeopardizing the talks altogether.

Existing sanctions are putting "acute pressure" on Iran's government, Blinken said.

What's more, he warned that new penalties could "give Iran an excuse" to leave the negotiating table and ramp up their its nuclear program to pre-P5+1 levels.

Email: jbennett@defensenews.com.

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