The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

Republican White House hopeful John McCain demanded action on tougher sanctions against Iran Wednesday, rejecting Democrat Barack Obama's call for aggressive diplomacy following Tehran's missile tests.

The presidential rivals sketched sharply different approaches after Iran's Revolutionary Guard test-fired a missile capable of reaching Israel, provoking global condemnation and jolting the US presidential race.

"We have lines of communication with the Iranians and they are many," McCain told reporters in Pennsylvania, saying Iran had already been offered a sheaf of incentives to change its ways.

"Their behavior has obviously not changed-the time has now come for effective sanctions on Iran," McCain said.

Senator Obama argued for a carrot-and-stick policy of tightened sanctions and a more robust diplomatic effort by the United States to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program.

"Through its nuclear program, missile capability, meddling in Iraq, support for terrorism, and threats against Israel, Iran now poses the greatest strategic challenge to the United States in the region in a generation," he said in a statement.

"Now is the time to work with our friends and allies, and to pursue direct and aggressive diplomacy with the Iranian regime backed by tougher unilateral and multilateral sanctions.

"It's time to offer the Iranians a clear choice between increased costs for continuing their troubling behavior, and concrete incentives that would come if they change course.

"The threat from Iran's nuclear program is real and it is grave. As president, I will do everything in my power to eliminate that threat, and that must begin with direct, aggressive, and sustained diplomacy."

McCain rebuked Obama for his failure to vote for a Senate measure last year that branded the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.

"It's my understanding that this missile test was conducted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," McCain said.

"This is the same organization that I voted to condemn as a terrorist organization when an amendment was on the floor of the United States Senate. Senator Obama refused to vote, called it a provocative step," he said.