WASHINGTON, April 17, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Breaking with President George W. Bush's strategy in dealing with the Iranian standoff, senior US Senators urged Sunday, April 16, the administration to hold direct talks with Tehran over its nuclear program as Pope Benedict XVI called for an "honorable solution" to the nuclear standoff.

"Now, the Iranians are a part of the energy picture. Clearly their ties with India and with China, quite apart from others, are really critical," Republican Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the ABC television's "This Week" program.

"We need to talk about that," he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Russia and China each hold veto power that could block UN Security Council-backed sanctions and each have strong economic ties with Iran. Each opposes sanctions or the use of force against Tehran.

The Bush administration has ruled out direct US-Iran talks on the nuclear issue, although it has opened a door to bilateral discussions on the situation in Iraq.

The US argues that Iran's nuclear program is a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

But Iran, which announced last week it had produced low-grade enriched uranium suitable for use in nuclear power stations, insisted that its program was only to generate peaceful nuclear power.

"I happen to believe you need direct talks," said Dodd.

Asked about sanctions, Lugar said: "I would hold off for the time being until we're certain that they're going to be effective."

"And they will not be effective without European friends who are in our negotiations quite apart from the Chinese, the Indians and the others," he said.

Lugar reiterated that direct US talks with Iran would be "useful" as part of a broad dialogue on energy.

"Maybe we need to focus our attention less right now on the centrifuges than on how power is going to come out ... to all of these countries in some more satisfying way," he said.

US Democrat Senators also opted for direct talks with Tehran.

"I happen to believe you need direct talks. It doesn't mean you agree with them.... But there's an option," Sen. Christopher Dodd was quoted as saying by the BBC News Online.

"I don't think there's anything to be lost by opening a dialogue with them," added his fellow Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh.

Bayh, however, said that Tehran should be warned of heavy prices if insisted to continue its nuclear ambitions.

"The Iranians are hardened people. They've made a strategic decision that they want to acquire nuclear weapons. I don't think they will respond to words alone," Bayh said.

The United States is now pushing for tough UN action against Iran, with several US press reports also saying that military options to deal with the oil-rich regime were being looked into.

US veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said in a new report this month that the US administration is looking "seriously" at striking Iran with tactical nuclear weapons, an option that has created misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and prompted some officers to consider resigning.

Iran gave fresh signals on Sunday that it was in no mood for a compromise over its disputed nuclear program, with officials openly flouting a UN Security Council demand for a freeze in uranium enrichment by April 28.

"We are trying to find a diplomatic solution for our (nuclear) problem, and the United States should be aware that it is not in a position to create another crisis in the region," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the official news agency IRNA.

Pope Benedict called for an "honorable solution" to the Iran-West standoff.