Days ahead of crucial talks with global powers, Iran defiantly test-fired short-range missiles Sunday and announced it would follow with tests of long-range weapons capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

If the Irananian show of force was meant to discourage Washington, it didn't seem to work.

Appearing on the ABC Sunday morning talk show This Week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the actions by Tehran underscore that it is worried after President Barack Obama made a surprise revelation that Iran has a second cover uranium enrichment facility. Obama was flanked during his Friday announcement by the leaders of Great Britain and France.

"We have created a problem for the Iranians with this disclosure," said Gates.

Asked whether the U.S. or Israel are now more likely to pursue a military strike on Iranian facilities, Gates said that the current environment is more favorable to "severe sanctions" to cripple Iran's struggling economy, troubled by collapsing global oil prices and high unemployment.

U.S. lawmakers took to the airwaves Sunday to call for tough new sanctions on Iran. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Sen. Jon Kyl-R-Ariz., said the missile tests call into question the Obama strategy of seeking to have dialogue with Iran.

"I think it illustrates the point that at some point talking is counterproductive," said Kyl.

On the same program, Sen. James Webb, D-Va., defended Thursday's talks with Iran, noting they give a change to express views forcefully face to face, rather than through the filter of the media.

Both Kyl and Webb called on China to get on board with sanctions, after Russia and European nations voiced support for a tougher stand against Tehran.

"China is key," said Webb, noting that Iran imports 40 percent of its gasoline consumption, and that China accounts for one-third of that supply, replacing European exporters who have bowed out under pressure from Washington.

Asked why sanctions would work now, when they have failed in the past, Secretary Gates said there are deep "fissures" in Iranian society after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this year. Protests continue, and opponents continue to be jailed and report torture. Gates thinks it wouldn't take too much pressure to significantly raise the political costs of nuclear ambitions for an unpopular government.