[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 64 (Monday, April 15, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  Iran

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, some years ago, I had the privilege of 
visiting our American servicemembers stationed in the U.S. Navy Fifth 
Fleet in Bahrain--an impressive group keeping a close eye on Iran.
  Despite a relatively pro-Western population, Iran's hard-line 
leadership regularly has threatened the United States' interests and 
its allies.
  Iran has long funneled money and weapons to some of the region's 
worst proxies--Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis--some of whom have 
attacked U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria. That is why I supported the 
Iran nuclear agreement under President Obama--not because it would stop 
Iran's belligerence in the region but because it would prevent it from 
doing so armed with a nuclear bomb.
  Well, this weekend, we saw the Iranian threat in a massive attempted 
attack on Israel--one that Israel, with the help of the United States 
and other allies, was thankfully largely able to thwart. I hope cooler 
heads will prevail and keep this conflict from escalating in an already 
unstable region of the world.
  But make no mistake, because former President Trump petulantly 
withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement--an 
agreement that was working to contain that dangerous program--Iran is 
inching ever closer to a nuclear weapon. Iran has also cozied up to 
Vladimir Putin--surprise--who is desperate for weapons from any rogue 
regime to fuel his disastrous war in Ukraine.
  So it seems to me it is long overdue for House Republicans this week 
to stop doing Russia's bidding by blocking the Senate-passed national 
security supplemental.