Campaign Statements — Iran

Saturday January 07, 2012

“Develop a strategy to replace the Iranian dictatorship and Iraq will be fine.”

“If you’re worried about the Iranians in Iraq, develop a strategy to replace the Iranian dictatorship and Iraq will be fine.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Iraq | Newt Gingrich |

Saturday January 07, 2012

“A fundamentally new strategy…comparable to what we developed to fight the cold war.”

“I think we need a fundamentally new strategy for the [Middle East] comparable to what we developed to fight the cold war.”

CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Iran | Newt Gingrich | War on Terror |

Saturday January 07, 2012

“If they close the Straits of Hormuz…you have the Muslim Brotherhood winning in Egypt.”

“Afghanistan is a tiny piece of a gigantic mess that is very dangerous. Pakistan is unstable and they probably have between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons. Iran is actively trying to get nuclear weapons. I mean they go out and practice closing the Strait of Hormuz, where one out of every six barrels of oil goes through every day. And if they close the Straits of Hormuz, you have an industrial depression across the planet within 48 hours. You have the Muslim Brotherhood winning the elections in Egypt. The truth is, we don’t know who’s in charge in Libya.”

CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | The Arab Spring | Iran | Newt Gingrich | War on Terror |

Saturday January 07, 2012

“We had a president…who stood silently by as thousands were killed on the street.”

“The Iranian people have come to the streets—have taken to the streets repeatedly and still do, in trying to overthrow their government. And we had a president of the United States who stood silently by as thousands were killed on the streets, and did nothing. Did nothing. In fact, he tacitly supported the results of the election. Now Ahmadinejad announced right after the election polls were closed that he won with 60-some percent of the vote and the president of the United States said, well, that sounds like a legitimate election. Obviously a Chicago politician.”

CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Iran | Mitt Romney |

Saturday January 07, 2012

“The Iranian people love America because we stand up for the truth.”

“The Iranian people love America because we stand up for the truth and say—and call evil, which is what Ahmadinejad and the mullahs are, we call evil what it is. That’s why they admire us, because we tell the truth.”

CATEGORIES: American Exceptionalism | Iran | Mitt Romney | War on Terror |

Saturday January 07, 2012

“We have the capacity to remove them militarily from their plans to have nuclear weaponry.”

“We have a nation, which is intent on becoming nuclear. Iran has pursued their—their ambition without having crippling sanctions against them. The president was silent when over a million voices took to the streets in Iran. Voices he should have stood up for and said, we’re supporting you. And he’s—and he’s failed to put together a plan to show Iran that we have the capacity to remove them militarily from their plans to have nuclear weaponry.”

CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Iran | Mitt Romney | War on Terror |

Sunday January 01, 2012

“We will degrade [Iran’s] facilities through airstrikes…”

“We will degrade those facilities through airstrikes, and make it very public that we are doing that”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Rick Santorum | War on Terror |

Thursday December 15, 2011

“Without a shadow of a doubt…[Iran] will take a nuclear weapon.”

“…we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Iran will take a nuclear weapon, they will use it to wipe our ally, Israel, off the face of the map, and they’ve stated they will use it against the United States of America.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Israel/Palestine | Michele Bachmann |

Thursday December 15, 2011

“They hate us because of who we are and what we believe in.”

“Iran is not any other country. It is a country that is ruled by the equivalent of al Qaeda on top of this country. They are a radical theocracy. The principle virtue of the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to President Ahmadinejad, is not freedom, opportunity, it’s martyrdom.

The idea, Ron, that mutual assured destruction, like the policy during the Cold War with the Soviet Union would work on Iran when their principle virtue is martyrdom, is—mutual assured destruction with respect to Iran would not be any kind of, you know, idea of preventing a war. It would be an inducement to a war.

This is what their objective is. Their objective is to in fact create a calamity. This is what their theology teaches. They believe that it is their mission to take on the West. They don’t hate us because of what we do or the policies we have. They hate us because of who we are and what we believe in.

And we need to make sure that they do not have a nuclear weapon. And we should be working with the state of Israel right now. We should use covert activity. And we should be planning a strike against their facilities and say, if you do not open up those facilities and not close them down, we will close them down for you.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Islamophobia | Rick Santorum | War on Terror |