Former US congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul says US sanctions against Iran are an “act of war,” and urges Congress to let diplomacy work.

US President Barack Obama has called on the new Republican-controlled Congress not to impose more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, saying he would veto any such move.

At a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the White House in Washington on Friday, Obama warned Congress that additional sanctions would torpedo the ongoing nuclear talks with Tehran.

“Additional sanctions on Iran at this time would undermine international unity and set back our chances for a diplomatic solution,” the US president said.

Ron Paul said that he endorses the language President Obama is using.

“We jump too fast and get involved in confrontations. I don’t even like the idea of using sanctions because those are acts of war and lead to a lot of trouble,” he said in an interview with Newsmax’s “Midpoint.”

Paul pointed out that the US war against Iraq began with sanctions that had run for more than ten years prior to the 2003 invasion.

Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and Senator Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, are drafting new sanctions legislation as Iran and the P5+1 group are negotiating to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement.

Nuclear negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 group – the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – wrapped up their latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear energy program in Geneva on December 17, 2014.

The two sides agreed to extend their discussions for seven more months until July 1, 2015. They also agreed that the interim deal they had signed in Geneva in November 2013 should remain in place during the course of the negotiations.

John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, dismissed Obama’s veto threat on Friday. "No White House threat will stop us from doing the right thing to protect the United States and its allies," he said in a statement.

HRJ/HRJ