[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 76 (Thursday, May 10, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Nuclear Deal with Iran

  Madam President, now on oil prices and Iran, earlier this week the 
President exited the Iran deal. We all know that. Even as someone who 
opposed the deal--which I did because I thought it was flawed; I 
thought President Obama and Secretary Kerry should have waited longer 
and given more time for the sanctions to bite, and we would have gotten 
a stronger and better deal. I still believe that. But once the deal is 
in place, it seems to me that we should not be focused on undoing this 
deal. We don't want a nuclear Iran. That is one of the reasons I 
opposed the deal. But there is no report from anybody, including our 
own intelligence, that Iran is violating that part of the deal.
  In the meantime, Iran is doing some very bad things. It is not a 
country we should admire or respect in any way--the leadership, anyway. 
They are trying to develop an ICBM. They are creating havoc with the 
Houthis in Yemen. Worst of all, in my opinion, the greatest immediate 
danger is that there are Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops in Syria, 
right near Israel's border, and hundreds, if not thousands, of deadly 
rockets that Iran gives to Hezbollah, a militant terrorist 
organization. They placed them in Lebanon where they have hegemony in 
certain areas. That is the greatest danger to Israel. That is the 
greatest danger to peace in the Middle East. Down the road, it will be 
the greatest danger to the United States, at least in the next several 
years.
  What we should be doing is not undoing this deal right now but 
creating new sanctions and telling Iran that if they continue giving 
missiles to Hezbollah, if they continue sending troops to Iran, if they 
continue their activities with the Houthis and the placing of 
additional missiles, we will put on additional sanctions. That is the 
smartest thing to do, and that is what is most in need now, given 
America's and the world's security needs. But we need our allies to do 
it.
  Sanctions don't work when they are unilateral. We learned that in 
South Africa years ago with apartheid. Only when the sanctions became 
broad and enacted by many nations did they have an effect. It is the 
same situation here.
  The United States, by pulling out of the agreement and getting our 
European allies' noses way out of joint, makes it far harder to enact 
new sanctions on what I perceive to be the greatest dangers we face.
  There is one other thing Americans should realize about pulling out 
of the Iran deal, and that is it affects gasoline prices across the 
country. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, gas 
prices will rise over the summer, and the average American family can 
expect to pay $200 more this driving season than last. The Iran deal is 
certainly some part of that. For middle-class families, $200 this 
summer is more than the tax break they will get, if they get one at 
all.
  When President Trump makes rash decisions without consideration of 
the consequences and no coherent strategy, which is what has happened 
with Iran, the American people pay the price in many different ways: 
security, the declining ability to find and go after the greatest 
dangers we face with Iran, and money out of our own pocketbooks with an 
increase in gasoline prices. One of the ways Americans will pay for 
President Trump's unthought-out decision to exit the Iran deal will be 
at the gas pump this summer.
  So again, to repeat, I didn't think the deal was a good deal; still, 
I am proud I voted no. But at this time, in this place, and for so many 
reasons, pulling out precipitously without our allies involved does not 
achieve anything, does not achieve the goals we need to achieve, and 
hurts Americans in different ways.