(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-17 14:23

Washington  - US Democratic lawmakers on Friday warned the Bush administration was "beating the drums for war" with Iran, and vowed to wield constitutional powers to thwart any US military strike.

US President George W. Bush (R), with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, speaks at a joint statement in the White House, November 16, 2007.  [Agencies]

Their comments, in a Capitol Hill press conference, came as US President George W. Bush fired off a fresh warning that international pressure would grow on the Islamic Republic, unless Tehran agreed to suspend enriching uranium.

"It's an open secret that Dick Cheney is agitating for a preemptive attack on Iran," said Democratic congressman Peter DeFazio.

"It would be disastrous to the United States, disastrous to the region, disastrous for our armed forces in Iraq," he said.

Accusing Bush of "beating the drums for war" with Iran, Democratic Representative Jim McDermott said that Congress Democrats "under the Constitution, have the right to declare war, to send troops into battle, not the president."

A total of 12 bills are pending in the House of Representatives and the Senate, designed to throw up roadblocks to any decision by the Bush administration to take military action against Iran's nuclear program.

Several are intended to prohibit the government funds to attack Iran, others demand the US president to ask Congress to authorize any strikes against the country.

Others state that resolutions permitting the use of force against Iraq in 2002, cannot be used to justify any action against Tehran.

Bush said earlier on Friday after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that pressure on Iran "must, and will, grow" if Tehran refuses to freeze sensitive nuclear work.

"The prime minister and I agree that a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten the security of the Middle East and beyond. Our two nations are united in our efforts to change the regime's behavior through diplomacy," he said.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have been sharply ramping up their rhetoric about Iran, leading some critics to draw parallels with the late 2002 verbal escalation against Iraq.

In recent months, Bush has predicted "nuclear holocaust" and "World War III" if Tehran gets atomic weapons, while Cheney has warned of "serious consequences" for Iran if it defies global demands to freeze sensitive nuclear work -- echoing the UN resolution that Washington says authorized war in Iraq.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied Sunday the United States was bent on war with Iran.