Welch Weighs In On Iran

(Host) Congressman Peter Welch says there are no simple ways to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Welch acknowledges that having the U.S. or Israel take military action to undermine Iran's nuclear program is an option. But he says it has to be evaluated very carefully before it's put into place.

(Welch) "You never take any option off the table, but policy makers who are actually going to be making the decision I think have to be extraordinarily sober in recognizing that once a military action takes place all kinds of things get unleashed that you lose control over and that's the question."

(Host) Welch says he favors the imposition of additional sanctions against the government of Iran.  But he's not sure that more sanctions will have much impact on Iranian leaders.

(Welch) "Sanctions do have collateral consequences and the people in that country suffer as a result of the decisions of their leadership. So the question is, is there justification to use sanction as a tool to try and stop the nuclear proliferation in Iran when you have an Iranian leadership that probably is quite willing to let their people suffer."

(Host) Iranian leaders say their nuclear program is not designed to produce weapons, but Welch says those claims need to be verified by international inspectors.