Defending Against the Threat of a Nuclear Iran

Statement

Defending Against the Threat of a Nuclear Iran

On a recent Wednesday morning, a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in west Jerusalem, killing three people and wounding dozens. The incident has garnered international attention in the media.

At the time, I was joined by four other Members of Congress in Israel to discuss with the country's leaders the extraordinary forces shaping the Middle East and to hear firsthand about U.S.-Israel relations, the Middle East peace talks, Israel's security situation, and the status of important economic and political trends in Israel and the Middle East.

America's national security interests are directly tied to developments in the Middle East. This area of the world plays such an important role on the world stage, with tremendous impacts on all aspects of the world today.

U.S. foreign policy, specifically with regards to the Middle East, affects every American. The Middle East peace process will have a profound impact on American policy objectives in the region, and it is our responsibility to learn as much as possible about the situation in this volatile region.

I had the opportunity to participate in meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olhmert, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and other officials from the region. Along the border with Gaza we spoke with families from the small border town of Sderot, who have been terrorized by the daily firing of rockets by Hamas terrorists just across the border.

A visit to Tel Aviv culminated with our delegation boarding a helicopter for an aerial tour of Israel. We were able to see into Lebanon, where the terrorist group Hezballah has stocked its arsenal with more than 40,000 Iranian- and Syrian-supplied missiles and rockets.

Each of these challenges was made exceptionally clear in our meetings with Israel's leaders, in particular during our meeting with Prime Minister Olmert. But overshadowing each and every discussion was one issue in particular: the urgent need to halt Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

A nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and the international community. Iran's sophisticated Shihab missiles can already hit U.S. forces in the region and some of America's allies in Europe; and in the next decade, Iran is poised to acquire intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking the United States.

Iran continues to defy U.N. Security Council demands that it halt its uranium enrichment activity - the central element of a nuclear weapons program. Just weeks ago, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned that, with Iran's current nuclear capabilities, the country would need just "six months to one year" in order to produce one atomic bomb.

With this threat in mind, I joined more than 220 members of Congress in cosponsoring H. Con. Res. 362, which declares Iran's illicit nuclear program threatens America's national security and must be dealt with immediately.

The resolution, which explicitly does not constitute authorizing the use of force against Iran, calls on President Bush to impose stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions targeted at Iran's vulnerable energy and financial sectors.

In one key provision, the bill urges the President to lead an international effort to ban the sale of refined petroleum products to Iran. This step would have an immediate and severe impact on Iran's economy, due to the country's surprising lack of refining capability, and dramatically increase pressure on Iranian leaders to step back from the nuclear brink.

We are running out of time to counter Iran's deadly ambitions. Because a nuclear Iran would pose a direct threat to the United States and our allies, America must take the lead to impose tough, biting sanctions to persuade Iran to abandon its dangerous quest.

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