US senators pushing Iran sanctions want war: Krauthammer

US conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer has admitted that senators who are supporting a Senate bill to tighten sanctions against Iran in the midst of nuclear talks are seeking a war.

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday, Krauthammer called an interim nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers a “catastrophe” because it is not tough enough on the Islamic Republic, the Huffington Post reported.

He argued that the deal makes it diplomatically and perhaps militarily impossible for Israel to carry out an attack on Iran.

“They’re in a very difficult position,” Krauthammer said. “This deal is designed as much by John Kerry and Barack Obama to prevent Israel from defending itself by attacking these facilities as it was supposedly to prevent Iran from going nuclear.”

An Israeli strike is out of the question so long as negotiations are underway, according to Krauthammer, who is one of the backers of the sanctions legislation.

“If they [Israelis] do, they’ll be blamed by the world (a.) for scuttling negotiations, and (b.) perhaps for starting a new war,” Krauthammer said.

“And they have nobody supporting them… The question is, does Israel have the required weaponry to penetrate that airspace in Iran, and then to penetrate deep under ground, where all these facilities are built? The United States does, but it’s questionable whether Israel does,” he added.

The strong sanctions bill, introduced by Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) last month, has gathered 59 cosponsors in the 100-member Senate.

Several important Israel lobby groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), are working hard to build support for the measure.

The White House has warned that the passage of new sanctions would represent a “march toward war” and challenged those members of Congress who support the bill to acknowledge that they favor military action against Iran.

“If certain members of Congress want the United States to take military action, they should be up front with the American public and say so,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.

US President Barack Obama threatened to veto the legislation if it passes Congress.

On Monday, political commentator Mark Dankof said Israel is still seeking to take “draconian steps” to provoke a war between the US and Iran despite the implementation of the six-month nuclear deal.

“There are more draconian steps that I’m afraid they [Israeli officials] would try to take to provoke a war between the United States and Iran,” Dankof told Press TV.