Campaign Statements — Iran

Monday August 20, 2012

“We’re now just getting around to tough sanctions on Iran”

“We’re now just getting around to tough sanctions on Iran”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Mitt Romney |

Tuesday July 31, 2012

“Our partners will continue to impose increasing consequences”

“If the Iranian government continues its defiance, there should be no doubt that the United States and our partners will continue to impose increasing consequences.”

CATEGORIES: Barack Obama | Iran |

Sunday July 29, 2012

“We should stand with all who would join our effort to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran”

Over the years Iran has amassed a bloody and brutal record. It has seized embassies, targeted diplomats, and killed its own people. It supports the ruthless Assad regime in Syria. They have provided weapons that have killed American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has plotted to assassinate diplomats on American soil. It is Iran that is the leading state sponsor of terrorism and the most destabilizing nation in the world.

We have a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions.

We should stand with all who would join our effort to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran – and that includes Iranian dissidents. Do not erase from your memory the scenes from three years ago, when that regime brought death to its own people as they rose up. The threat we face does not come from the Iranian people, but from the regime that oppresses them.

CATEGORIES: Iran | Mitt Romney |

Sunday July 29, 2012

“The president was silent”

“I spoke some years ago in Israel at the Herzliya Conference and laid out seven steps to keep Iran from becoming nuclear.  They have not been taken, until one, more recently.  I said that crippling sanctions needed to be put in place immediately.”Had those sanctions been implemented Iran’s economy “would be on its knees at this point,” “That combined with standing up with Iranian dissidents, the president was silent, when dissidents took to the streets in Tehran.  I would have spoken out in favor of representative government and against the Ahmadinejad regime.  The president was silent.  In addition, I think Ahmadinejad should have been indicted under the genocide conviction,”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Mitt Romney |

Sunday May 27, 2012

Panetta: “We are prepared for any contingency in that part of the world.”

“The fundamental premise is that neither the United States or the international community is going to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. We will do everything we can to prevent them from developing a weapon.International community’s been unified. We’ve put very tough sanctions on them as a result of that, and we are – you know, we are prepared for any contingency in that part of the world. But our hope is that these matters can be resolved diplomatically.”

- Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary

CATEGORIES: Barack Obama | Iran |

Monday May 21, 2012

“Our hope is that we can resolve this issue in a peaceful fashion that respects Iran’s sovereignty.”

“[The weaponization of nuclear power is of] grave concern to all of us [in the G8]. All of us are firmly committed to continuing with the approach of sanctions and pressure in combination with diplomatic discussions. We are unified on our approach to Iran. Our hope is that we can resolve this issue in a peaceful fashion that respects Iran’s sovereignty and its rights in the international community, but also recognizes its responsibilities.”

CATEGORIES: Barack Obama | Iran |

Thursday April 26, 2012

Biden: “It’s necessary for American to be strong and smart at the same time.”

“I promise you,the President has a big stick. I promise you. President Obama understands what Gov. Romney apparently doesn’t:  It is possible — it’s indeed necessary — for America to be strong and smart at the same time. I think it’s fair to say the only step we could take that we aren’t already taking is to launch a war against Iran. If that’s what Governor Romney means by a very different policy, he should tell the American people, he should say so.  Otherwise, the governor’s tough talk about military action is just that — talk.  And, I would add, counterproductive talk.” - Joe Biden

CATEGORIES: Barack Obama | Iran |

Sunday April 22, 2012

“They’ve got some of the toughest sanctions…if they don’t take advantage of these talks.”

“The notion that somehow we’ve given something away or a ‘freebie’ would indicate Iran has gotten something. In fact, they’ve got some of the toughest sanctions that they’re going to be facing coming up in just a few months if they don’t take advantage of these talks.”

CATEGORIES: Barack Obama | Iran |

Tuesday March 27, 2012

“The Russian demands…present a clear and present danger to American security.”

“The President’s remark to his Russian counterpart that he would have more “flexibility” on ballistic missile defense after the election underscores how dangerous an Obama re-election would be. The President promised the Senate during the ratification debate on the New START Treaty he would not compromise on the Russian demand to limit US ballistic missile defense. Now we find out that promise was nothing more than empty words. The Russian demands, including ballistic missile deployment restrictions, limits on the technological capabilities of our missiles, and joint control over launch decisions, if agreed to by the US government; constitute a clear-and-present danger to American security.

The Russians seek to impose deployment restrictions on US sea-based ballistic missile defense systems including the deployment of Aegis-class missile defense ships from the Black Sea — the path over which Iranian ICBMs would have to travel to reach the US.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Newt Gingrich |