Two senior US senators have called for a regional nuclear fuel bank to provide a new approach for containing proliferation in the Mideast, including by Iran.

Democrat Bob Menendez and Republican Lindsey Graham introduced the bipartisan resolution aimed at avoiding a destabilizing arms race in the Middle East on Friday.

The resolution calls on the US government to adopt a policy that allows any Middle Eastern state access to nuclear fuel if they forgo uranium enrichment and reprocessing, based on the model of the existing nuclear fuel bank created by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The establishment of a regional fuel bank would allow the commercial development of nuclear power throughout the region while at the same time eliminate the need for dangerous and destabilizing domestic nuclear programs.

The proposal also makes clear that a commitment by Iran to end its enrichment program should be met with a US commitment to provide sanctions relief beyond the measures contained in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Other sanctions should remain in place until Iran verifiably ceases its “other malign activity, including its support for terrorism, its human rights abuses, its hostage-taking, and its destabilizing activities in the region”.

Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Iran is on the brink of having enough material for a nuclear weapon, noting that “this new compromise can provide Iran appropriate sanctions relief while swinging the doors open to permanently solve this nuclear crisis once and for all”.