"It's time to implement our sanctions laws and demonstrate to Russia and China that there are consequences for abetting Tehran and flouting US sanctions," Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said firms run by the Russian and Chinese governments had invested "huge sums" in Iran's energy sector, "effectively bankrolling" Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons program and its backing of Islamist groups.

She did not offer details, but US officials have noted that Chinese firms have been stepping in to fill the void left by companies leaving Iran because of UN and US sanctions.

"Russia and China appear determined to continue to facilitate Iran's dangerous policies. This must not be allowed to continue without serious repercussions," she said.

Her comments came as a top US State Department official, Robert Einhorn, was on a trip to Asia set to include a stop in Beijing to press China to fully enforce sanctions on Iran.

China has invested around 40 billion dollars in the Islamic republic's oil and gas sector, but Chinese imports of Iranian oil fell in the first half of 2010, a senior Iranian official told Mehr news agency on Saturday.

In 2009, China became Iran's premier trading partner, with bilateral trade worth 21.2 billion dollars against 14.4 billion dollars three years earlier.

earlier related report
Indonesia warns N.Korea over rising tensions
Jakarta (AFP) Aug 2, 2010 - Indonesia warned Monday that tensions on the Korean peninsula could spin out of control without a return to dialogue, as North Korea's foreign minister visited the southeast Asian country.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa held talks with his North Korean counterpart Pak Ui Chun and said there was an "inherent risk" attached to the current freeze in six-party talks over the North's nuclear programme.

He said he had repeated Indonesia's condemnation of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March with the loss of 46 lives, without blaming North Korea as the United States, South Korea and other countries have done.

"Our emphasis is on the future in terms of wanting to ensure that the conditions conducive to the return to six-party talks are created," Natalegawa said after the meeting.

North Korea has offered to return to the stalled disarmament dialogue involving the two Koreas plus China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The talks have been on ice since December 2008. In April last year the North announced it was quitting the forum before staging its second nuclear weapons test a month later.

The United States and South Korea have said that before negotiations can resume, Pyongyang must acknowledge its role in the sinking of the warship, sincerely commit to scrapping its atomic weapons and halt provocative actions.

Pak did not speak to reporters after the meeting in Jakarta.

"Sooner or later, all parties must return to the dialogue, to the negotiation process," Natalegawa said.

"In our view, in the Indonesian view, sooner is better than later because otherwise there is an inherent risk of events developing out of control and we may end up in a situation where we don't want to be."

The United States and South Korea accuse the North of torpedoing the Cheonan near the disputed Yellow Sea border in March -- a charge Pyongyang denies.

The North threatened a physical response to US-South Korean naval exercises launched last month in the Sea of Japan.

A South Korean newspaper reported Monday that the North attacked the warship after the South balked at its request for economic aid in return for a proposed summit.

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