Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey came out strong against President’s Obama’s Iran policy in a piece for the National Review on Wednesday.
Toomey maintains that Iran is moving faster and faster toward producing their own nuclear weapons while at the same time providing money and weapons to terrorist organizations across the Middle East.
The Senator also argues that negotiations with Iran have proved fruitless and haven’t deterred Iran from searching for the capability to possess nuclear weapons. Toomey asserts that Iran will have the “most destructive weapon in the world” in no time.
Toomey wants the Congress to pick up the sense of urgency against Iran and argues for legislation to contain three main elements.
First of all, Toomey wants a sanctions bill at least as strong as the Nuclear Weapons Free Iran Act of 2013. The bill enjoyed bipartisan support but went nowhere in the Senate.
The bill imposed stringent sanctions on the Iranian petroleum industry and threatened American allies if they did not curtail trade with Iran. President Obama argued that the bill would cause Iran to end negotiations with the United States.
Toomey, on the other hand, argues that this proves Iran is not serious about curtailing their efforts to reach the bomb.
“Only when Iran is forced to choose between the economic viability of its country and possession of the bomb will the mullahs be likely to forego the bomb,” Toomey writes.
The Senator then goes on to argue that President Obama should seek an agreement that does not allow Iran to possess any uranium-enrichment capabilities.
“The capacity to enrich uranium is not necessary for a peaceful nuclear-energy program,” he claims. “An agreement permitting meaningful uranium enrichment leaves America and our allies in grave danger.”
Finally, Toomey wants Congress to vote on any agreement that deals with the Iranian nuclear program. Historically, he argues, Congress is often the institution that votes on treaties and trade agreements that involve “peaceful nuclear technology.”
Senator Toomey is prepared for Congress to pass a “strong sanctions bill” that will go into effect by June if Iran declines to end its nuclear program.
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9 Responses
Now suppose we were Iran. Suppose Russia or China told us we had to dump our nuclear weapons or they would wreck our economy. Would we? Or would we say, “Hell, once we roll over, they’ll pound us into dust!” and, as Cuba has done for 50 years, find ways to exist with the sanctions while acquiring the nukes that guarantee Israel won’t attack Tehran? If I’m Iran, I get the nukes, period.
Who the heck reads the National Review? His choice of publication boxes him again into a far-right ideological corner. And it was probably the only publication who would print his predictable Republican talking points. Toomey is gaining irrelevance by the day.
Thank you Senator Toomey for calling out the absurdity of these negotiations. You are a true statesman. Don’t listen to Bozo the Clown because well…he is a bozo!
> And why is Toomey trying to interfere with sensitive international negotiations?
Because he doesn’t want to spend how own money on reelection, and this is a way to get his name out there amongst the fat cat, wealthy righties, i.e., readers and subscribers of national review.
Didn’t McCain write the same article ten years ago?
Steve – so let Obama reach a deal and let the Senate review it. Interfering while the negotiations continue is not the Senate’s job. Whether Obama is such a poor foreign policy president is more a matter of opinion than fact. It would be hard to be worse than either Bush.
tommyd, do you truly trust Obama to get these negotiations right? He is the weakest foreign policy president since Jimmy Carter. If Obama reaches a deal with Iran, there is no reason why Congress should not review it and approve it! If it’s such a good deal for the U.S., Israel and the Middle East… then it should withstand further review.
Toomey is writing in the National Review to shore up fundraising support outside of PA.
Who cares? Is Politics PA becoming a platform for bloviation? And why is Toomey trying to interfere with sensitive international negotiations?