Monday, April 17 2006 12:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: As the Bush administration gears up for punitive measures against Iran, a prominent Republican lawmaker has called for restraint in US action against Tehran keeping in mind it is an oil-rich country that has 'critical' energy ties with India and China.

"I think that (direct talks) would be useful.The Iranians are a part of the energy picture. Clearly their ties with India and with China, quite apart from others, are really critical to (international energy issues)," Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Richard Lugar said.

"We need to talk about that. 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," the Republican Senator remarked during a talk show yesterday.

The chairman of the powerful Senate panel stressed that sanctions should be put off for the time being and that Washington should ascertain that punitive measures would be effective.

"I would hold off for the time being until we're certain that they're going to be effective," the Senator said.

"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.

The Indiana Republican cautioned the administration against rushing through with the idea of punitive measures pointing out the diplomatic hurdles along the way.

"I believe, for the moment, that we ought to cool this one, too.We need to make more headway diplomatically," Lugar said.