[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 14, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1725-S1726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Iran
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, nearly 20 years ago, I joined with then-
Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon to introduce the Iran
Counter-Proliferation Act.
Key provisions of that bill included significant tightening of
petroleum-related sanctions that eventually became law and helped push
Iran to the negotiating table over its genuinely dangerous nuclear
program. Those tough sanctions and unified allied pressure, including
from Russia and China, led to an agreement that contained Iran's
nuclear program with aggressive international inspections.
I remember hosting the International Atomic Energy Agency Director
General many times in the ensuing years where he provided me with
updates on the inspections. While sometimes contentious, they were, in
fact, working.
During those years, I also met directly with Iranian officials to
discuss this agreement, to push them to end their support for regional
proxies, and to help return missing and detained Americans in Iran.
So I am not naive about the Iranian regime's threat to the region and
even its own people. And while the nuclear agreement wasn't perfect
then, it was working. It allowed us to confront Iran about its
otherwise troubling behavior without the threat of an Iranian nuclear
weapon. We made progress.
Yet, during his first term, President Donald Trump walked away from
this agreement and replaced it with nothing--nothing but bluster and
wishful thinking. The President's approach did not stop Iran from
pursuing its nuclear program, but it did undermine the coalition that
we had created to counter Iran's nuclear aspirations.
The mess we find ourselves in today--and it is a mess--is one the
President has helped to create through his narcissism, impulsiveness,
crude threats, and lack of planning.
I have learned during the course of my service in Washington that it
is far easier to get into a war than it is to get out of one. We find
ourselves today facing a set of easily predictable policy problems
despite the stunning skill and bravery of America's military.
The belligerent regime in Iran has not fallen. Already difficult
leaders have been replaced by even harder hardliners, with the
Revolutionary Guard gaining even more influence.
Iran continues to rebuild its military capabilities and threaten our
troops, interests, and allies in the region.
The Strait of Hormuz, which had largely been free and open for the
last several decades, is now being held hostage by the remaining
Iranian regime--one that is brazenly still threatening ships and
charging outrageous tolls for safe passage.
If I asked the American people randomly ``What is this war all
about?'' they would start by saying that Iran is a bad actor. Agreed.
No argument there. But what are we trying to achieve there?
If they are puzzled by that question, I am, too, because you listen
to how the President explained his strategy from the start--let me tell
you what the list contains partially. I don't know the complete list.
Why did we do this? Regime change. That was announced almost
immediately. Several days later, that was removed.
How about ballistic missiles? Ballistic missiles for sure, and then
later, it was said: Well, there is no capacity for ballistic missiles
striking the United States or our friends in the near term.
How about nuclear weapons? We want to stop nuclear weapons. But
didn't the President say 6 months ago when we attacked that we had
obliterated their capacity to build nuclear weapons? He came back to
say that was on the agenda too.
When you go through it, the list keeps growing. The initial
explanation for why we were there had never mentioned the Strait of
Hormuz, and now it is a daily topic. One day, we are fighting to keep
them open; the next day, we are fighting to keep them closed. I can't
follow the bouncing ball. I don't know what the President's agenda is
when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz.
The fact that the President suggested last week that the United
States would jointly collect payments for access to the Strait of
Hormuz is beyond imagination. These funds are being used as extortion
funds by Iranian hardliners to rebuild the country's military and
continue to fund its terrorist proxies.
After weekend talks in Pakistan--21 hours with the Vice President--
went absolutely nowhere, President Trump announced a U.S. blockade of
the Strait of Hormuz.
At a time when our gasoline prices are skyrocketing, when the revenue
from oil, because of the new barrel prices, is reaching record levels
not just for the Iranians' profit but the profit of the Russians, who
use that to fight in Ukraine, for goodness' sake, who ever sat down at
the table before this invasion and analyzed these possibilities, and
what was their conclusion? Did we really go to war in Iran to worsen
the free flow of goods in the critical Strait of Hormuz and enter into
an extortion business with the Iranian regime? It is upside down.
The equally predictable move by the Iranians to try to squeeze the
global economy has hurt American consumers and farmers and the global
economy--a surprise to no one except President Trump. Americans are
already struggling to make ends meet because of the President's cuts to
Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and his tariff taxes. He is doing
everything he can to make this economy even worse. The increase in gas
prices--now more than $4 a gallon in Chicago--may be too much for many
to bear.
While Americans suffer under high prices, our adversaries are reaping
the benefits in profits. The increase in global oil prices and the
desperate easing of some oil sanctions by Trump have been a gift to
Vladimir Putin, who takes this revenue to renew his bloody war against
the Ukrainians. Was that thought about before we invaded Iran?
And let's not forget that Putin, who continues to snub any attempts
by President Trump to end the war in Ukraine, has also been helping
target American interests in the gulf. He is not neutral; he is helping
the Iranians at the expense of American soldiers.
I cannot say it better than New York Times columnist and Middle East
expert Tom Friedman. Here is what he wrote recently:
Trump has no clue how to get out of the mess that he has
created by starting a war without thinking through the
implications.
We desperately need a coherent plan to end this war, one that
addresses the remaining highly enriched uranium still in Iran. We need
a plan that stabilizes the U.S. and global economy and makes sure any
further wars are done with the consent of Congress.
It is not too much to ask that this President--every President who
wants to engage in a war follow article I, section 8 of the U.S.
Constitution, which gives the authority to declare war to Congress.
Notably, it is for the American people to decide through their elected
Members of Congress. That is why I still support Senator Tammy
Duckworth's War Powers Resolution which will be on the floor this week.
It is time for us to accept our constitutional responsibility and try
to get this mess under control with Iran.
[[Page S1726]]
If there was ever a reminder of the importance of the constitutional
role of the people's elected representatives, it is in the declaration
of war.
This current mess reminds us that those who wrote the Constitution
had real wisdom, and those who are executing the plans for this war
have not demonstrated that feature.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. PADILLA. Mr. 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 California.