[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 64 (Monday, April 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1706-S1707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Iran
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, Democrats' radical base and the leftwing
media have made it abundantly clear that Trump derangement syndrome has
clouded their ability to call a spade a spade and to actually recognize
reality. President Trump could hardly blink without progressive
hardliners lodging an objection.
Their obstinance has sustained the longest shutdown in the Department
of Homeland Security's history.
They have just spent the last several weeks insisting to Americans
that overwhelmingly support voter ID laws that these requirements would
be impossible for them to meet.
Recently, the latest object of leftwing ire has been President
Trump's targeted attacks against Iran with Operation Epic Fury. Now, it
is not hard to imagine why the same party that allowed more than 10
million illegal immigrants to enter the country under President Biden's
watch would want lax voter laws that might allow these aliens to vote
in American elections, but what is a little harder to understand is why
they would object to the dismantling of the arsenal of the world's No.
1 state sponsor of terrorism. If we want to have fewer wars and a more
peaceful, less dangerous world, than a defanged Iranian regime is in
everyone's interest.
President Trump's actions against the Iranian regime are not a
solution in search of a problem. He is not engaging in a benevolent
quest to build democracy around the world. Rather, this operation
directly aims to ensure the safety and security of the American people
and our friends and allies.
Nothing--nothing--would do more to support the cause of world peace
than to neutralize the most significant threat to global security.
The Islamic Republic of Iran provides materiel support to proxy
terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, al-Qaida, Hamas, the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, and many more. They
provided materiel support to terrorists who carried out the attacks on
U.S. soil on September 11, 2001. They backed and in some instances
directly carried out attacks against American officials and troops in
the Middle East. Iran funded and trained Hamas terrorists who raped and
murdered more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and children, including
46 Americans, on October 7, 2023. Even more alarmingly, they have
recently demonstrated an ability to launch missiles at targets
approximately 2,500 miles away--previously believed to be beyond their
reach.
Iran has aligned itself with America's enemies, including North
Korea, Russia, and the People's Republic of China. They have even
helped finance drug traffickers in Central America.
Last fall, I chaired a hearing of the Senate Caucus on International
Narcotics Control which examined the role that terror networks closely
connected to Iran, including Hezbollah, have played in contributing to
the drug crisis we face here in America. Hezbollah--one of the Iranian
proxies that operates primarily in Lebanon and which obtains a
substantial percentage of its funding from Iran--has developed close
ties with South American drug trafficking organizations. It engages in
money laundering, oil smuggling, counterfeiting, illegal weapons
procurement, and has even carried out terror attacks on targets in
South America, including the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association
Jewish community center and the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Hezbollah's activities haven't remained physically south of the
border. One of the witnesses at our hearing had played an instrumental
role in breaking up a Hezbollah smuggling cell in North Carolina. Cells
like those discovered in North Carolina and in South America finance
terror back in the Middle East and around the world.
Given this context, given this history, given this reality, it goes
without saying that a more dangerous Iran would put the safety and
security of Americans and America's allies and American interests in
peril.
President Trump's actions toward Iran in Operation Epic Fury
demonstrate that he understands the danger Iran poses to the world,
especially--especially--if they were to acquire a nuclear weapon. If
Iran were to acquire a nuclear weapon, it would permanently alter the
balance of power in the Middle East. Iran is estimated to already have
440.9 kilograms of up to 60 percent highly enriched uranium--just a
step away from weapons-grade. There is simply no realistic civilian use
for Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile. The reason they are doing
this is obvious.
Our President understands the ``art of the deal'' better than any
modern head of state, and his dealmaking techniques were on full
display last week when he secured a 2-week cease-fire with Iran. In
order to bring Iran to the negotiating table, President Trump did what
any shrewd businessman would do: He applied credible pressure,
threatening extreme action if a deal
[[Page S1707]]
was not reached. Mainstream news outlets prematurely condemned his
comments, but they were soon proven wrong. By issuing a dramatic
threat, President Trump commenced negotiations to bring the conflict to
a close on terms that put America first.
But it is important to remember that these negotiations were not
conceding to Iran's unreasonable demands, including its demand to be
able to secure a nuclear weapon or issue tolls to people transiting the
Strait of Hormuz.
Over the weekend, Iranians demonstrated that they were not serious
about reopening the Strait of Hormuz or giving up their uranium
enrichment program. When it became clear the Iranian regime was not
serious about this, President Trump imposed a blockade of vessels
carrying Iranian oil transiting the strait. This blockade is a critical
negotiating tactic, showing Iran that the United States will not cave
and targeting their economic lifeline.
President Trump is not abandoning diplomacy. He said diplomacy is
still an option for the regime. But he is insisting on diplomacy in
terms favorable to the United States and not caving against our
enemies.
Our President demonstrated for all to see that the ultimate way to
win over a bully is not to give in but to stand up to him.
Furthermore, let's not forget this targeted operation has been
successful in mitigating the threat posed by the Iranian regime toward
the United States and our allies, and the data bears that out. Since
the start, more than 13,000 targets have been struck, including Iranian
ballistic missile sites, drone manufacturing facilities, weapons
production and storage bunkers, and surface-to-air missile facilities.
Missile attacks--it shouldn't be surprising--have fallen by 90
percent as Iran has lost many of its missile launchers. Their navy is
largely decimated, with more than 155 vessels damaged or destroyed. And
while we are still waiting to see the ultimate outcome of the ongoing
negotiations, by these measures, Operation Epic Fury has already been a
resounding success.
Iran relied on its ballistic missiles to defend against strikes on
their enrichment facilities. So simply by knocking these out, we have
set them further back in developing their nuclear weapons.
President Trump understands what the progressives on the left do not,
which is that a nuclear Iran would impose an existential threat to the
free world. He is right to stand up to this regime. Finally, we have a
President who has been willing to stand up to the Iranian regime that
has been at war against the West and the United States since the 1979
Iranian Revolution and which has American blood on its hands.
Rather than allow the regime to continue to funnel money to terrorist
organizations around the world and hold the world hostage by halting
the global oil supply, President Trump has said: Enough is enough.
America cannot surrender to the regime that chants ``Death to
America.''
I am thankful for President Trump's resolve in standing up to this
Islamic theocracy, and I would encourage his detractors to rethink
their positions and do the same.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. PAUL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Kentucky.