THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained a video likely GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is about to release on Iran. In his statement, Perry blasts the Obama administration for “desperately pursuing a nuclear agreement with Iran,” and criticizes the concessions the administration has made in some detail. Perry goes on to lay out two “non-negotiable” principles: “one, Iran will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, period…and two, the United States will not normalize relations with Iran until Iran ceases to support terrorist groups that target the United States and our allies.” But the real news in the video comes at the end: “If President Obama signs an agreement that the Congress cannot support, our next president should not be bound by it. An arms control agreement that excludes our Congress, damages our security, and endangers our allies has to be reconsidered by any future president. We must not allow the incompetence of one administration to damage our country’s security for years and decades to come.”
In other words, a Perry administration wouldn’t necessarily feel constrained by an Obama administration agreement that Congress hadn’t approved. This is a significant marker for a Republican presidential candidate to lay down. Perry has done so. Will the other GOP candidates agree?
Here’s the link to the video, and the full script is below:
During the negotiations, this administration has caved on one demand after another. They once pledged that Iran would dismantle much of its enrichment capacity. No longer — Iran will retain thousands of centrifuges.
They once insisted that Iran would have to come clean on the military dimensions of its nuclear program. No longer — the past is all but forgotten if not forgiven. And Iran’s long-range ballistic missiles…whose only purpose is carrying a nuclear payload…are not even the subject of discussion in these talks.
But perhaps the most disturbing concession to Iran is the notion of a sunset clause. This means that at a date certain…perhaps only ten years from now…Iran will be free to become a nuclear power, with our acceptance and approval. All limits on this terrorist regime will be removed.
Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu knows this…which is why he made a special appearance before Congress warning that this deal would jeopardize Israel’s security…and ultimately ours.
In my view two principles should be non-negotiable: one, Iran will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, period…and two, the United States will not normalize relations with Iran until Iran ceases to support terrorist groups that target the United States and our allies.
We must be clear about the threat posed by the Iranian regime. Iran is still the most significant supporter of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas. It continues to call for extinction of Israel and actively plots against our Arab allies. It continues to deny the Iranian people the freedom they seek.
And the ayatollahs have the blood of hundreds and hundreds of Americans on their hands…from Marines blown up in Beirut to soldiers killed in Iraq by weapons Iran supplied.
This proposed nuclear agreement would legitimize the Iranian regime and its search for nuclear weapons. This cannot stand.
The Senate should finally pass the bipartisan sanctions bill sponsored by Senators Mark Kirk and Robert Menendez. And Congress must demand that any nuclear arms agreement negotiated with Iran be submitted to Congress for a vote…not deliberately kept from our elected representatives.
If President Obama signs an agreement that the Congress cannot support, our next president should not be bound by it.
An arms control agreement that excludes our Congress, damages our security, and endangers our allies has to be reconsidered by any future president.
We must not allow the incompetence of one administration to damage our country’s security for years and decades to come.
