00:00your time. So with that, Senator Ricketts. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Rayburn,
00:06President Trump has been very clear that when it comes to Iran, he's talking about a deal that
00:11involves total disarmament of their nuclear program. That means no enrichment, no plutonium
00:18processing, no centrifuges, nothing like that. Allowing Iran to be able to enrich at any level
00:25would give them the opportunity to be able to use that then to create weapons-grade uranium for
00:31a nuclear weapon that it would be dangerous not only to us but our allies like Israel.
00:37And that's just one of the reasons why President Trump was right to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear
00:42deal before. And I might point out that Iran doesn't even use the uranium it's enriching in its
00:49nuclear reactors. It's powering those nuclear reactors with Russian uranium. So that means
00:54that everything it's enriching is actually going toward this program to create nuclear weapons.
01:00Yesterday, Senator Cruz, myself, and Tom Cotton, along with 49 of our Republican colleagues,
01:08wrote a letter to the President reinforcing that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear program.
01:14They need to have total nuclear disarmament. And I really appreciate my colleagues in joining me
01:20with that. And the whole goal is to really strengthen the President's hand when he's negotiating with
01:24the Iranians. Do you agree with Special Envoy Whitcoff that any enrichment program
01:30can ever exist in the state of Iran ever again?
01:33Senator, thank you for raising that. I do agree with Special Envoy Whitcoff and the President,
01:39Secretary Rubio, have been very clear about it as well.
01:41Does Iran need a domestic enrichment program to have a domestic nuclear power program?
01:49No, Senator. There are literally dozens of countries in the world that have civil nuclear
01:55programs where the countries don't have their own enrichment capability. They buy the fuel
02:02from third parties, nor do they reprocess the spent fuel.
02:07Given Iran's previous history of deception and not allowing us to verify, how important is it to have a
02:14really strong verification program for any deal that we would be able to do with Iran?
02:19Senator, it's essential because I think the Iranians have not operated in good faith,
02:26even under the terms of the JCPOA. They've exceeded limits. They even were allowed under the JCPOA,
02:35as well as the rest of the pattern of their behavior since 1979 indicates there has to be very stringent
02:41controls, oversight of whatever is agreed with them.
02:46The IAEA, so they've lost control, can't even account for anything they've got in Iran right now.
02:51Do you think that really only total disarmament of their program is the only way we can truly know
02:56that they do not have a nuclear weapons program?
02:59Senator, I think that's in line. I think that is the President, Secretary Rubio, Special Envoy Whitcoff's position,
03:05determination. I think it's wise that the Iranians don't need and should not have their own enrichment capability.
03:14If civil nuclear power is really what they're interested in or medical research, they can buy the fuel from third parties.
03:20They don't need to have their own enrichment capability.
03:24Great. Thank you.
03:26Last month, I'm going to switch gears a little bit.
03:27Last month, I led a CODEL with Senator Kuntz and Senator Budd to Taiwan.
03:32And the impression that was left on all of us is that we need a partner who's willing to do what's necessary
03:38for self-defense in the face of increasing aggression from Beijing.
03:43President Lai's whole of society resilience effort,
03:46through that effort, Taiwan citizens are being galvanized,
03:50prepare for an invasion and resist the coercion from the communist government in China.
03:55The government also really is focused on military reforms, including enhancing its reserve force.
04:02And on defense spending, Taiwan's legislature recently approved the largest ever national defense budget.
04:07Now, Taiwan has still got a lot of work to do on all these fronts
04:09and must do it quickly to be able to deter communist China.
04:14But we've got to do better as well, whether it's howitzers or Stinger missiles or Abrams tanks or F-16s.
04:20These are all experiencing multi-year delays.
04:22And, of course, Xi Jinping has told his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
04:29We've kind of hit a pill on this already, Mr. Pratt.
04:31But my understanding is that these delays are a result of both industrial base
04:35that is struggling to meet demand and bureaucratic hurdles and delays in arms sales process.
04:40If confirmed, what actions can you do to help Taiwan get more of the backlog
04:45that we've already agreed to provide to them and ensure more timely delivery?
04:50Thank you for that, Senator.
04:52Certainly, Taiwan is our most important partner, certainly the most important partner in the region.
04:57Perhaps it faces the most asymmetric threat in the history of the world and its northern neighbor there.
05:03So we're certainly very committed.
05:06I can't speak to the existing problems that you mentioned.
05:10But I'm certainly very committed, if confirmed, to taking a comprehensive review of how we can help Taiwan
05:19and increase our support thereof.
05:23Great.
05:24So one of the actions Congress could take is elevate Taiwan into the NATO-plus category
05:29for shorter congressional notification timelines and higher threshold values when it comes to FMS and DCS.
05:36I recently introduced a bill, the Porcupine Act, with Senator Coons and Cornyn that would do just that.
05:43Mr. Pratt, have confirmed?
05:44What do you think of that idea?
05:46Would you support that effort?
05:47I'm very familiar with that effort, sir.
05:49And I'm very supportive of taking a hard look and to figure out the best way forward with that.
05:55Great.
05:55Thank you, Mr. Pratt.
05:56Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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