ICYMI: Risch Discusses Nuclear Talks with Iran on Fox News
BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined Eric Shawn on Fox News to discuss the Biden Administration’s efforts to rejoin the JCPOA.
To watch the full interview on YouTube, click here.
On why talks with Iran are a waste of time:
“First of all, the American people should know we’re in the 7th round of talks – we aren’t, we’re not in the room. It’s the Chinese, the Russians, and the Europeans that are in the room across the table from the Iranians. We’re not in the room, we’re at the kids table in an adjacent room. Why would you even participate under those circumstances? It doesn’t make sense.”
“This is going to be decided in the first instance by the Iranians. They’re going to decide how far they want to proceed. But secondly, and most importantly, the ones who are really going to decide this are the Israelis. I’ve sat across the table from them for years. They look you in the eye and they say Iran will never have a nuclear weapon – they are going to see that they don’t. So regardless of what agreements are made or anything else, they’ve always said they reserve the right to defend themselves, they reserve the right to take the action that is necessary.”
“This is not going to be decided by us… The more important question is, that I always put to the administration: when you get the call, are you ready?”
On why the Iranian regime cannot be trusted:
“Remember last time… the Obama Administration flew in pallets of cash, giving billions and billions of dollars [to the Iranians]. What did they do with it? They used it to support terrorist organizations, to build IEDs that greatly injured and killed our best that are serving over there.”
“We’re talking about a regime that is not to be trusted. Any two countries can resolve any problems they’ve got if two things are present. Number one, if both parties have the same objective. And number two, if both parties act in good faith to reach that objective. Here with the Iranians, we have neither one of those.”
On the Biden Administration’s lack of action on Iran:
“We do try to change conduct, and the way we can do that is by tightening the sanctions even further. We’ve got a number of sanctions that are still waiting in the wings, and I’ve been urging the administration, and I urged the Obama Administration, to tighten the screws. But [the Biden Administration doesn’t] show any inclination to doing it. And frankly, it’s discouraging.”
“Clearly they’re not doing enough.”
The full interview can be watched on YouTube here.
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