In 2015, then-Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a lengthy warning on the Senate floor about the potential consequences of the nuclear agreement with Iran, arguing that sanctions relief would allow Tehran to expand its military capabilities and strengthen its position in the Middle East.
Rubio spoke during a debate surrounding the proposed nuclear deal between the United States and Iran, raising concerns about how the Iranian government might use funds unlocked through sanctions relief.
He said the agreement would allow Iran to strengthen both its conventional military forces and its strategic capabilities.
“I do want to be recorded for history’s purposes before I know what was going to happen in regards to this,” Rubio said at the time.
“If it goes through, Iran will immediately use the money that it’s receiving in sanctions relief to begin to build up its conventional capabilities. It will establish the most dominant military power in the region outside of the United States, and it will raise the price of US operating in the region.”
Rubio warned that Iran would invest in military systems designed to challenge American forces operating in the region.
“They’re going to build anti access capabilities, rockets capable of destroying our aircraft carriers and ships continue to build these swift boats that are able to come on us, these fast boats that are able to swarm our naval assets. And they’ll make it harder and harder for US troops to be in the region.”
He also said Iran would continue supporting militant groups that could target American personnel.
“They’ll also work with other terrorist groups in the region to target American servicemen and women, and they may or may not deny that they’re involved, but they will target us and raise the price of our presence in the Middle East until they hope to completely pull us out of that region.”
Rubio also warned that Iran’s missile development would continue even under the agreement.
“They’ll also continue to build long range missiles, missiles capable of reaching the United States. Those are not affected by this deal, and they’ll continue to build them, as they’ve been doing.”
According to Rubio, those developments could eventually lead Iran to pursue nuclear weapons once it believed it could deter a military strike.
“And then at some point in the near future, when the time is right, they will build a nuclear weapon, and they will do so, because at that point, they will know that they have become immune, that we will no longer be able to strike their nuclear program, because the price of doing so will be too high.”
Rubio compared the potential scenario to the situation involving North Korea’s nuclear program.
“This is not just a work of imagination. It exists in the world today. It’s called North Korea, where a lunatic possesses dozens of nuclear weapons and a long range rocket that can already reach the United States, and we cannot do anything about it.”
He continued by describing the consequences of a military strike against North Korea today.
“An attack on North Korea today would result in an attack on Tokyo or Seoul or Guam or Hawaii or California, and so the world must now live with a lunatic in possession of a nuclear weapon, of nuclear weapons, and this is the goal Iran has as well.”
Rubio argued that Iran’s leadership sought to reach a position where it would be protected from outside military pressure once it obtained nuclear weapons.
“To reach a point where they become immune to any sort of credible military threat, because the price of a military strike would be too high, and then they become an established nuclear weapons power.”
He also warned about the ideological motivations of Iran’s leadership.
“And never in the history of the world has such a regime ever possessed weapons so capable of destruction. Iran is led by a supreme leader who is a radical Shia cleric with an apocalyptic vision of the future.”
Rubio said that the country’s leadership was driven by religious ideology rather than traditional geopolitical considerations.
“He is not a traditional geopolitical actor who makes decisions on the basis of borders or simply history or because of ambitions. He has an apocalypse, apocalyptic vision of the future, one that calls for triggering a conflict between the non Muslim world and the Muslim world, one that he feels especially obligated to trigger, and he’s going to possess nuclear weapons.”
Rubio warned that the nuclear agreement could shape the future global security environment.
“This is the world that we are on the verge of leaving our children to inherit, and perhaps we ourselves will have to share in it.”
He concluded his remarks by stating his opposition to the agreement and urging future leaders to reconsider the policy.
“And so I want to be recorded for history’s purposes, if nothing else, to say that those of us who opposed this deal understood where it would lead, and we are making a terrible mistake, and I fear that a passage of this deal will make it even harder for us to prevent it, and I hope that there is still time to change our minds.”
Rubio added that the United States could still reverse course under new leadership.
“But here’s the good news, Iran may have a supreme leader, but America does not in this nation. We have a republic, and soon we will have new leaders, perhaps in this chamber, but also in the executive branch.”
He urged that future officials reverse the agreement and restore sanctions backed by the possibility of military force.
“And I pray that on their first day in office, they will reverse this deal and reimpose the sanctions and back them up with a credible threat of military force, or history will condemn us for not doing what needed to be done at this critical moment in the world’s history, I yield the floor.”
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