[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 184 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5372-S5373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  Iran

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 44 years ago last week, shock troops 
chanting ``Death to America'' and ``Death to Israel'' led Iranian 
revolutionaries across Tehran, overran the U.S. Embassy, and took 66 
Americans hostage for 444 days. Iran's war against America, the ``Great 
Satan,'' and Israel, the ``Little Satan,'' has continued ever since. 
The regime has supported Shia terrorists, Sunni terrorists, and secular 
terrorists. It has underwritten violence across the world, from the 
1983 marine barracks bombing in Beirut, to the 1992 Israeli Embassy 
bombing in Buenos Aires, to the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi 
Arabia, to hundreds of attacks, masterminded by Qasem Soleimani, on 
U.S. forces in Iraq.
  Tehran has invested its time and resources into cultivating the 
terrorists of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic jihad. The 
Iranian regime bears responsibility for their savagery. It is also 
responsible for more than 100 attacks on U.S. personnel and interests 
in Iraq and Syria just since President Biden took office. These attacks 
have spiked since October 7.
  Two weeks ago, an Iranian-made suicide drone hit a U.S. military 
barracks in Iraq. Thankfully, the drone's explosive payload failed to 
detonate. But the message it sent about the state of President Biden's 
deterrence of the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism was as 
clear as day.
  In recent weeks, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted at 
least another 38 times with lethal force, and more than 40 
servicemembers have been injured. Let me say that again. Iran-backed 
terrorists have attacked U.S. forces at least 38 times since October 7.
  U.S. personnel are, of course, not the only targets of the Iranian 
war on Western influence in the Middle East. America's Arab allies have 
endured repeated attacks as well. This ongoing siege is not the 
behavior of an adversary that is being effectively deterred.
  How we got here is no mystery. When the Biden administration took 
office, it rushed to restore a failed nuclear agreement with an Iranian 
regime that had long since proven it wasn't to be trusted. When Iran-
backed Houthi rebels killed three people at an airport in the UAE and 
aimed two ballistic missiles at its capital last year, the 
administration responded with silence.
  In response to the latest wave of attacks on U.S. forces, the 
President authorized a strike on an ammunition facility. His Secretary 
of State felt compelled to reiterate that ``we are not looking for 
conflict with Iran.'' Clearly, Iran is looking for conflict with us. 
The Iranian regime is working hard to kill Americans, undermine our 
influence, and sow chaos among our allies, and so far, you would have 
to say they are succeeding.
  Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad perpetrated the deadliest day of 
violence against Jews since the Holocaust. Hezbollah stands ready, at 
Iran's behest, to escalate this conflict into a two-front war. Years of 
careful progress toward normalized relations between Israel and more of 
its Arab neighbors has been stalled.
  Demanding that Israel cease fire against Hamas would lock in these

[[Page S5373]]

gains for Iran. It would grant amnesty for both the terrorists and 
their sponsors. We have a responsibility to reject these demands not 
just on behalf of our ally Israel but because amnesty for terrorists 
would embolden the Iran-backed threats to U.S. interests in the region.
  As I have said before, effective deterrence requires both 
capabilities and credibility. It requires that a global superpower 
actually act like one. In practical terms, deterring Iran and its 
web of terrorists means meeting attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and 
Syria with swift, lethal, and overwhelming military force. It means 
working with allies to deploy crippling economic sanctions and inhibit 
Iran's support for terror. It means finally taking the advice I offered 
President Biden when he took office: Set aside the failed nuclear deal; 
work with Republicans; and build an Iran policy that can endure long 
after he leaves office.