Casey: Get 'tough and resolute' on Iran

The president's efforts this week to raise awareness of nuclear disarmament have been successful, but addressing Iran's nuclear program in particular requires a more direct approach, one lawmaker suggested Thursday.

"I think it is critically important that we follow the president's lead here; he's been very aggressive making sure disarmament is part of the strategy going forward," Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) told MSNBC.

But, the senator added of President Barack Obama's meeting with the U.N. Security Council on Thursday:

"One meeting or one speech does not a policy make. There are plenty of ways to exert power, and there are also a number of ways to demonstrate leadership, and I think the president has pointed us in the right direction. But when you consider not just the broader nuclear threat, but threat posed by Iran, [we need to make sure] that we're applying every possible element of pressure [to stop their nuclear program.]"

Casey instead called for a "tough and resolute" approach to Iran's nuclear ambitions, one that would require companies to divest their pension funds from its energy sector and impose heavy sanctions on the state. Both measures are currently pending Senate action.

"This threat remains, and we have to be vigilant," Casey said. "We have to have a strategy in place to make sure that when it comes to proliferation of nuclear weapons that we're focused very intensely on making sure we can control that proliferation."

"And we dont have it right yet, so we have ways to go," he added.