Transcript:
Thank you very much. My fellow Americans: As President of the
United States, my highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the
American people.
History has shown that the longer we ignore a threat, the more
dangerous that threat becomes. For this reason, upon taking office, I've
ordered a complete strategic review of our policy toward the rogue regime in
Iran. That review is now complete.
Today, I am announcing our strategy, along with several major
steps we are taking to confront the Iranian regime's hostile actions and to
ensure that Iran never, and I mean never, acquires a nuclear weapon.
Our policy is based on a clear-eyed assessment of the Iranian
dictatorship, its sponsorship of terrorism, and its continuing aggression in
the Middle East and all around the world.
Iran is under the control of a fanatical regime that seized
power in 1979 and forced a proud people to submit to its extremist rule. This
radical regime has raided the wealth of one of the world's oldest and most
vibrant nations, and spread death, destruction, and chaos all around the globe.
Beginning in 1979, agents of the Iranian regime illegally seized
the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held more than 60 Americans hostage during the
444 days of the crisis. The Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah twice
bombed our embassy in Lebanon — once in 1983 and again in 1984. Another
Iranian-supported bombing killed 241 Americans — service members they were, in
their barracks in Beirut in 1983.
In 1996, the regime directed another bombing of American
military housing in Saudi Arabia, murdering 19 Americans in cold blood.
Iranian proxies provided training to operatives who were later
involved in al Qaeda's bombing of the American embassies in Kenya, Tanzania,
and two years later, killing 224 people, and wounding more than 4,000 others.
The regime harbored high-level terrorists in the wake of the
9/11 attacks, including Osama bin Laden's son. In Iraq and Afghanistan, groups
supported by Iran have killed hundreds of American military personnel.
The Iranian dictatorship's aggression continues to this day. The
regime remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and provides
assistance to al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist
networks. It develops, deploys, and proliferates missiles that threaten
American troops and our allies. It harasses American ships and threatens
freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf and in the Red Sea. It imprisons
Americans on false charges. And it launches cyberattacks against our critical
infrastructure, financial system, and military.
The United States is far from the only target of the Iranian
dictatorship's long campaign of bloodshed. The regime violently suppresses its
own citizens; it shot unarmed student protestors in the street during the Green
Revolution.
This regime has fueled sectarian violence in Iraq, and vicious
civil wars in Yemen and Syria. In Syria, the Iranian regime has supported the
atrocities of Bashar al-Assad's regime and condoned Assad's use of chemical
weapons against helpless civilians, including many, many children.
Given the regime's murderous past and present, we should not
take lightly its sinister vision for the future. The regime's two favorite
chants are "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the United States and
the United Nations Security Council sought, over many years, to stop Iran's
pursuit of nuclear weapons with a wide array of strong economic sanctions.
But the previous administration lifted these sanctions, just
before what would have been the total collapse of the Iranian regime, through
the deeply controversial 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. This deal is known as the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
As I have said many times, the Iran Deal was one of the worst
and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. The
same mindset that produced this deal is responsible for years of terrible trade
deals that have sacrificed so many millions of jobs in our country to the
benefit of other countries. We need negotiators who will much more strongly
represent America's interest.
The nuclear deal threw Iran's dictatorship a political and
economic lifeline, providing urgently needed relief from the intense domestic
pressure the sanctions had created. It also gave the regime an immediate financial
boost and over $100 billion dollars its government could use to fund terrorism.
The regime also received a massive cash settlement of $1.7
billion from the United States, a large portion of which was physically loaded
onto an airplane and flown into Iran. Just imagine the sight of those huge
piles of money being hauled off by the Iranians waiting at the airport for the
cash. I wonder where all that money went.
Worst of all, the deal allows Iran to continue developing
certain elements of its nuclear program. And importantly, in just a few years,
as key restrictions disappear, Iran can sprint towards a rapid nuclear weapons
breakout. In other words, we got weak inspections in exchange for no more than
a purely short-term and temporary delay in Iran's path to nuclear weapons.
What is the purpose of a deal that, at best, only delays Iran's
nuclear capability for a short period of time? This, as President of the United
States, is unacceptable. In other countries, they think in terms of 100-year
intervals, not just a few years at a time.
The saddest part of the deal for the United States is that all
of the money was paid up front, which is unheard of, rather than at the end of
the deal when they have shown they've played by the rules. But what's done is
done, and that's why we are where we are.
The Iranian regime has committed multiple violations of the
agreement. For example, on two separate occasions, they have exceeded the limit
of 130 metric tons of heavy water. Until recently, the Iranian regime has also
failed to meet our expectations in its operation of advanced centrifuges.
The Iranian regime has also intimidated international inspectors
into not using the full inspection authorities that the agreement calls for.
Iranian officials and military leaders have repeatedly claimed
they will not allow inspectors onto military sites, even though the
international community suspects some of those sites were part of Iran's
clandestine nuclear weapons program.
There are also many people who believe that Iran is dealing with
North Korea. I am going to instruct our intelligence agencies to do a thorough
analysis and report back their findings beyond what they have already reviewed.
By its own terms, the Iran Deal was supposed to contribute to
"regional and international peace and security." And yet, while the
United States adheres to our commitment under the deal, the Iranian regime
continues to fuel conflict, terror, and turmoil throughout the Middle East and
beyond. Importantly, Iran is not living up to the spirit of the deal.
So today, in recognition of the increasing menace posed by Iran,
and after extensive consultations with our allies, I am announcing a new
strategy to address the full range of Iran's destructive actions.
First, we will work with our allies to counter the regime's
destabilizing activity and support for terrorist proxies in the region.
Second, we will place additional sanctions on the regime to
block their financing of terror.
Third, we will address the regime's proliferation of missiles
and weapons that threaten its neighbors, global trade, and freedom of
navigation.
And finally, we will deny the regime all paths to a nuclear
weapon.
Today, I am also announcing several major steps my
administration is taking in pursuit of this strategy.
The execution of our strategy begins with the long-overdue step
of imposing tough sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The
Revolutionary Guard is the Iranian Supreme Leader's corrupt personal terror
force and militia. It has hijacked large portions of Iran's economy and seized
massive religious endowments to fund war and terror abroad. This includes
arming the Syrian dictator, supplying proxies and partners with missiles and
weapons to attack civilians in the region, and even plotting to bomb a popular
restaurant right here in Washington, D.C.
I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further sanction the
entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to
apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and affiliates. I urge our allies to
join us in taking strong actions to curb Iran's continued dangerous and
destabilizing behavior, including thorough sanctions outside the Iran Deal that
target the regime's ballistic missile program, in support for terrorism, and
all of its destructive activities, of which there are many.
Finally, on the grave matter of Iran's nuclear program: Since
the signing of the nuclear agreement, the regime's dangerous aggression has
only escalated. At the same time, it has received massive sanctions relief while
continuing to develop its missiles program. Iran has also entered into
lucrative business contracts with other parties to the agreement.
When the agreement was finalized in 2015, Congress passed the
Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act to ensure that Congress's voice would be
heard on the deal. Among other conditions, this law requires the President, or
his designee, to certify that the suspension of sanctions under the deal is
"appropriate and proportionate" to measure — and other measures taken
by Iran to terminate its illicit nuclear program. Based on the factual record I
have put forward, I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this
certification.
We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is
more violence, more terror, and the very real threat of Iran's nuclear
breakout.
That is why I am directing my administration to work closely
with Congress and our allies to address the deal's many serious flaws so that
the Iranian regime can never threaten the world with nuclear weapons. These
include the deal's sunset clauses that, in just a few years, will eliminate key
restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.
The flaws in the deal also include insufficient enforcement and
near total silence on Iran's missile programs. Congress has already begun the
work to address these problems. Key House and Senate leaders are drafting
legislation that would amend the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act to
strengthen enforcement, prevent Iran from developing an inter- — this is so
totally important — an intercontinental ballistic missile, and make all
restrictions on Iran's nuclear activity permanent under U.S. law. So important.
I support these initiatives.
However, in the event we are not able to reach a solution
working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated. It
is under continuous review, and our participation can be cancelled by me, as
President, at any time.
As we have seen in North Korea, the longer we ignore a threat,
the worse that threat becomes. It is why we are determined that the world's
leading sponsor of terrorism will never obtain nuclear weapons.
In this effort, we stand in total solidarity with the Iranian
regime's longest-suffering victims: its own people. The citizens of Iran have
paid a heavy price for the violence and extremism of their leaders. The Iranian
people long to — and they just are longing, to reclaim their country's proud
history, its culture, its civilization, its cooperation with its neighbors.
We hope that these new measures directed at the Iranian
dictatorship will compel the government to reevaluate its pursuit of terror at
the expense of its people.
We hope that our actions today will help bring about a future of
peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East –- a future where sovereign
nations respect each other and their own citizens.
We pray for a future where young children — American and
Iranian, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish — can grow up in a world free from
violence, hatred, and terror.
And, until that blessed day comes, we will do what we must to
keep America safe.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you.
PM Netanyahu's statement
