Default Prevention Act of 2013-- Motion to Proceed--
Floor Speech
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Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, clearly the issue we are facing with regard to the budget, ObamaCare, the debt ceiling is a very important issue. In the hours and days to come I will have a lot more to say about it. I waited over the last few days, because of the urgency that confronts us domestically, to reserve my comments on the issue of Iran. At this point I believed I could no longer wait to speak out on it, so if my colleagues can indulge me for a few moments, I wish to talk about it because, as serious as the domestic challenge may be with regard to the budget, the spending, the debt limit, ObamaCare, we have another crisis brewing, one that goes to our national security interests, one that quite frankly for the most part unites us across the aisle; that is, the issue and the threat Iran's nuclear ambitions pose to the world.
The reason I believed I could no longer wait to address this is because I believe, as many of you do, that the world is entering a crucial time in the international efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program. On September 24 of this year, I, along with a group of other Senators, wrote to the President and we expressed our concerns about reports that the administration was contemplating making a fresh, new offer, fresh new series of offers to Iran. In that letter, we said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon; that is, if, God forbid, it becomes necessary, we could support the use of military force to prevent an Iranian bomb and that Iran must not be allowed to maintain any indigenous enrichment capability; and that now is not the time to suspend sanctions but to increase them on the Iranian regime.
All of us would like to wake tomorrow to the news that the Ayatollah has decided to abandon his nuclear weapons ambitions, but it is especially imperative on matters of national security that we not be guided simply by our hopes. We must be guided by reality. This is true in life in general, but it is especially true and important on issues of national security that we be guided by reality. That reality is that no matter how much Iran's political leaders say they do not have plans for a nuclear weapon, their actions say something else. They have dramatically increased their ability to enrich uranium and they continue to spend millions of dollars to expand their nuclear program and to develop long-range missiles which threaten not just Israel and Europe but eventually the United States.
The only reason you put so much money and time into developing long-range missiles is to put a nuclear weapon on them. That is what they have been doing. They have been developing this missile capability.
Recently, we heard all this new talk about there is a new President in Iran and he might be a reformer. We hope so. But this is also the same person who in the past has bragged about how he has fooled the world before and bought time for Iran's enrichment capacity to increase. In the end, by the way, even if he is a reformer, he is not the ultimate decisionmaker, nor is the Foreign Minister or any of these other civilians in their government. The ultimate decisionmaker is Iran's so-called Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. So far no one has accused him of being a reformer.
Iran's leaders are making noises about negotiating with the world now because over the last few years the United States and the European Union have imposed very significant sanctions on Iran and these sanctions are starting to hurt the Iranian regime. It is hurting, although it has not stopped, their ability to export terrorism around the world. It is hurting, although it has not stopped, their ability to buy parts for their nuclear program and for their missile program.
Do you want to understand why they are doing all this now, what their plan is? It is not that hard to understand. What they are trying to do, they are trying to get us and the world to agree to weaken the sanctions without them having to agree to any concessions that are irreversible, to any concessions that irreversibly block their ability to one day build that weapon. This ambition of theirs, this plan they have is clear as day. They are trying to figure out if they can get these sanctions suspended or lifted without giving up too much. Then at some point in the future, when the world has moved on, when we are focused on other things, they can then make their move to build their bomb.
By the way, this is the model North Korea employed over a decade ago. They used a combination of belligerence and pretended negotiations to buy the time and the space. Now they are a nuclear power and they continue to develop their rocket technology--which does not just threaten South Korea and Japan but the west coast of the United States and potentially one day the entire country, our entire country.
This is why, as these talks between the so-called P5+1 group of nations and Iran restarted, we are at a critical juncture. We should talk to Iran. We should see if they are serious. But we cannot, under any circumstances, put at risk the hard-earned leverage that took so long to put in place and assemble.
First, we need to remember whom we are dealing with. We are talking about a regime that has earned the distrust of the entire world through its secret nuclear program, a regime that admits foul play only when they are caught red-handed, a regime that supports terrorism, killing of Americans, and has an active hand in fueling conflicts that destabilize its neighbors. This is a regime that brutalizes its own people and denies them their basic freedoms. This is the regime, by the way, that plotted to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in this city, in Washington DC.
Given this record, the erosion of trust in Tehran is simply too great, so the United States must look long and hard at what Iranian actions could qualify as what the administration likes to call credible confidence-building measures.
I say this because of whom we are dealing with. Sanctions on Iran should not be lifted or suspended until they agree to completely abandon any capability for enrichment or reprocessing. Iran has a right to a peaceful civilian nuclear energy program. But they do not have the right to enrich or reprocess. Holding this line is especially important in light of Iran's repeated and blatant disregard for international obligations in the past and even to this day.
Even a limited enrichment program and possession of sensitive reprocessing technologies is unacceptable because of the risk that such a program would once again be abused by Iran in the future for nefarious and dangerous purposes. Suspending sanctions before Iran not just suspends but abandons enrichment would give the Iranian regime exactly what they want, an eventual path to a nuclear weapon. Sanctions relief at this time would allow them to make advances on their broader strategic objectives in their region such as propping up the Assad regime in Syria, such as continuing to destabilize Iraq, such as supporting terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
We cannot allow the No. 1 exporter of terrorism in the world this opportunity. Until Iran agrees to abandon enrichment and reprocessing, not only should we keep the current sanctions but the Congress should move to implement a new round of additional sanctions without delay. I would say that at some point Congress should consider making it very clear that if it becomes necessary, the President of the United States should reserve the right to take military action to prevent Iran from continuing to advance its nuclear weapons program.
The United States and the international community have succeeded in bringing Iran to the negotiating table through firm action, not through half measures. Personally, I hope, as do all of my colleagues, that there is a diplomatic solution to this problem. But Iran does not have forever to prove they are serious. We cannot allow them to use these talks to continue to buy time and space as they have for the last decade, as North Korea did before them, to buy time and space so they can continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability. We cannot allow them to use these talks to continue to spread terror, to undermine their neighbors, and to threaten our country or our allies in Israel and around the world.
We cannot fall into their trap. Yes, we should be willing to talk. But talk alone should not slow down our actions. Until they act, we should continue to increase pressure and speak forcefully about what these people sitting across from us have done internationally and to their own people; otherwise, I truly believe at some point in the future we are going to awake to the news that Iran has tested a nuclear weapon and we may find ourselves stuck with the reality that they have the ability to put that weapon on a missile that can reach the United States. If that day should ever come, God help us all.
I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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