Boehner: Obama Should Get Tough on Iran Over Plot

In the wake of U.S. accusations that high-level Iranian officials were part of a plot to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that the Obama administration must take Iran’s government to task.

“I think that the terror plot first shows all of us that the threat that we face has not gone away,” Boehner said at a news conference. “It also shows us that all of the investment that we’ve made and the efforts of the intelligence agencies and the counterintelligence agencies over the last 10 years has been paying big dividends and continues to pay big dividends.

“It’s a very serious breach of international behavior, and I would hope that our administration would hold the Iranian government — hold their feet to the fire over the actions that have been alleged in this complaint,” the Ohio Republican said.

Boehner declined to specify exactly what the White House should do.

For its part, the White House said today that the United States will seek further sanctions against Iran in response to the plot.

"We're responding very concretely with actions we know will have an impact on Iran and will make clear this kind of behavior is unacceptable and will further isolate Iran," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

But he stopped short of citing any specific measures being considered, except to say that Washington is discussing the issue with "friends and allies around the world."