U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) commended the Trump Administration for imposing sanctions on eight senior Iranian officials and key sectors of Iran’s economy, including steel and iron manufacturers.
“Today’s announcement of sanctions against senior Iranian officials and Iran’s manufacturing sector will cut off key revenue streams and further the administration’s maximum pressure campaign in the face of increased Iranian aggression,” Rubio said of the sanctions. “As I said yesterday on the Senate floor, the goal is a prosperous Iran that lives in harmony with its neighbors, does not have nuclear weapons, and abandons its support for terrorism and terrorist groups. Iran must now decide whether it is ready for serious, real diplomatic talks. In the meantime, this president, and any future president, has an obligation to deter, repel, and act against any efforts to harm Americans or U.S. interests.”
On the Senate floor last week, Rubio, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, laid out his thoughts on the situation in Iran.
“The strategy begins with the goal,” Rubio said on the floor. “The goal is pretty straightforward, a prosperous Iran that lives in harmony with its neighbors and does not have nuclear weapons or continue to support terrorism and terrorist groups. That is the goal. How do you achieve it? By Iran abandoning its desire for nuclear weapons and by no longer standing up these terrorist groups that for over a decade have been killing Americans and trying to harm Americans, Israelis, and other allies. How do you achieve it? By imposing crushing economic sanctions while leaving open the door for real — not fake, not talk for the sake of talk — but real diplomacy, but at the same time making it abundantly clear that you will deter, repel, and act against any effort to harm Americans.”