GOP Lawmaker Asks Witnesses How To Encourage The People Of Iran To Change The Regime

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At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) spoke about the Trump administration's treatment of Iran.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Sell for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In 2015, President Obama flew a plane with

00:07$400 million in cash to the Ayatollah and released billions more. In 2021, President Biden rescinded

00:14President Trump's maximum pressure campaign, as we've heard. They went from like $4 billion,

00:20I think, in reserves to somewhere around $100 billion today, perhaps more. We have suffered

00:26through multiple inept leadership in terms of Iran, and now we have a strong commander-in-chief

00:34who sees maximum pressure working. However, as an Article I branch of government, Congress

00:43must have jurisdiction over sanctions. Some say so over the sanctions for Iran for any future

00:49administration. That's why I have reintroduced the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act,

00:56which passed the House last session. But my bill will give us a seat at the table and

01:01the American people a voice and a view. We must strengthen Congress's hand to protect

01:07future generations from emergency existential threats to our nation's survival, and the

01:12Iranian nuclear weapon might do that. We have a duty to do that, so I want to start with

01:19you, Mr. Rule. What is the center of gravity of the Iranian nuclear program? Is it the warhead?

01:26Is it the guidance system? Is it the missile itself? Is it the facilities? Is it the potential

01:32for software from your years in the CIA? What is the center of gravity?

01:37It's a broad, federated program that exists in many locations across the broad geography.

01:44For many years, the center would have been the development of fissile material, but as we've

01:50just discussed, that is produced at a number of locations at a very advanced rate at present.

01:55So understanding their number of centrifuges, their production rate of highly enriched uranium

02:01is the most important aspect of the program at present.

02:06So you think they can quickly link the material with a guidance system with a missile, because

02:14they've never tested this either? No, sir, I didn't say that. In fact, it's unlikely

02:18they would be able to do so quickly or efficiently, in my view. They've not done that, and the time

02:25it would take for them to do that depends upon amount of testing, how quickly and secure

02:31they'd wish to do that, and the metallurgy to shape a warhead. And by the way, that's

02:36also saying they decide they wouldn't put it into a gravity bomb into an airplane or some

02:40other system to deliver it. Or sneak it into a port somewhere.

02:44Or sneak it into a port, sir. But at this point, it's the creation of fissile material in

02:49the enrichment program. Interesting. I would have said it would have been the building of an

02:56actual warhead on a missile. But anyway, Ms. Youngman, we know that the Ayatollah stopped

03:04the program supposedly in the early 2000s. He's now, what, 86, 87 years old? Do you think

03:12that they may be doing something behind his back, seeing that his days are numbered? What

03:18are the chances that is happening, that somebody surreptitiously is moving the nuclear program

03:25forward? Unfortunately, that's not my area of expertise. I'm going to defer to my colleagues

03:29on that question. Mr. Rule, I think you've been nominated. Minimal. Minimal. Minimal. It's not

03:39how the country works. It's a very small circle of people, and it's extremely unlikely something

03:45like that would happen without his knowledge. Okay. Very good. So regime change, I've heard

03:51that discussed here. I think that's a horrible concept because we haven't defeated a nation

03:57for decades now. But we do know that there have been several uprisings in Iran, and they

04:04are put down brutally. So how in the world do we encourage the people of Iran to actually

04:11go through the pain to change the regime? Is that possible? Because we're assuming some

04:19external force, the U.S. or somebody else, will have to make this happen. Because if we

04:27do have a successor to the Ayatollah standing in the wings, how do we encourage them to do

04:33this themselves? The people of Iran need to know that America stands with them. But we

04:41need to be very careful and cautious as to how we do this, because people are risking their

04:46lives. They will pay a terrific price in the prisons of Iran, at the hands of Iran's extraordinarily

04:55cruel security forces when they're punished. And we need to be very careful that we aren't

05:01too cavalier about how this is handled. It's up to the people of Iran to determine their

05:06future. And as they do take steps to change that future, they need to know that we will

05:15support them and perhaps even provide safe haven if they need security in such a situation.

05:25But we just need to be careful on how we move forward. Because if there is a situation where

05:32they're caught in the hands of Iran's security, they will be handled very roughly.

05:36Thank you. I yield back.

05:38Thank you. At this time, we recognize Representative of Delaware, Rhett McBride.

05:44Thank you, Mr. Acting Chairman. Thank you very much to our witnesses for...

05:49at...

05:59I'm empowerment.

06:06Yeah.

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