UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Richard G. Lugar, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Monday that the United States is not in favor of Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

    Lugar held discussion on issues of UN reforms and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction with member states of the Security Council at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

    Speaking to reporters after delivering speech to the Council, Lugar stressed that the U.S. government is working with European countries that have been negotiating with Iran and with the IAEA, and will work with the Security Council if the issue comes there.

    He stressed that the United States still favors a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.

    On the possibility of bilateral talks between the United States and Iran over the crisis, Lugar said "such a course is conceivable but the course for the United States we have been encouraged to follow is a multilateral approach simply because if collective action is required at the United Nations this is going to require something beyond the United States."

    He also made it clear that the U.S. government does not favor Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

    Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that Iran would pay "a very heavy price " if the Islamic Republic defiantly resumes full-scale uranium enrichment to build nuclear weapons.

    The IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, decided on Monday to report Iran's nuclear program to the Security Council, which might lead to sanctions. Enditem