00:00Now it's not hard to imagine why the same party that allowed more than 10 million illegal
00:05immigrants to enter the country under President Biden's watch would want lax voter laws that
00:12might allow these aliens to vote in American elections.
00:16But what's a little harder to understand is why they would object to the dismantling
00:22of the arsenal of the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism.
00:27If we want to have fewer wars and a more peaceful, less dangerous world, then a defanged Iranian
00:35regime is in everyone's interest.
00:40President Trump's actions against the Iranian regime are not a solution in search of a problem.
00:46He's not engaging in a benevolent quest to build democracy around the world.
00:51Rather, this operation directly aims to ensure the safety and security of the American people
00:58and our friends and allies.
01:01Nothing, nothing would do more to support the cause of world peace than to neutralize the
01:08most significant threat to global security.
01:11America.
01:13Recently, the latest left-wing object of ire has been President Trump's targeted attacks
01:19against Iran with Operation Epic Fury.
01:23Now it's not hard to imagine why the same party that allowed more than 10 million illegal immigrants
01:29to enter the country under President Biden's watch would want lax voter laws that might allow
01:36these aliens to vote in American elections.
01:40But what's a little harder to understand is why they would object to the dismantling of
01:45the arsenal of the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism.
01:50If we want to have fewer wars and a more peaceful, less dangerous world, then a defanged Iranian regime
01:59regime is in everyone's interest.
02:03President Trump's actions against the Iranian regime are not a solution in search of a problem.
02:09He's not engaging in a benevolent quest to build democracy around the world.
02:15Rather, this operation directly aims to ensure the safety and security of the American people
02:22and our friends and allies.
02:23Nothing, nothing would do more to support the cause of world peace than to neutralize the
02:31most significant threat to global security.
02:36The Islamic Republic of Iran provides material support to proxy terrorist organizations, including
02:42Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, and many more.
02:50They provided material support to terrorists who carried out the attacks on U.S. soil on September
02:57the 11th, 2001.
02:59And they backed and, in some instances, directly carried out attacks against American officials
03:05and troops in the Middle East.
03:08Iran funded and trained the Hamas terrorists who raped and murdered more than 1,200 innocent
03:15men, women, and children, including 46 Americans, on October the 7th, 2023.
03:24Even more alarmingly, they have recently demonstrated an ability to launch missiles at targets approximately
03:312,500 miles away, previously believed to be beyond their reach.
03:39Iran has aligned itself with America's enemies, including North Korea, Russia, and the People's
03:46Republic of China.
03:47They have even helped finance drug traffickers in Central America.
03:53Last fall, I chaired a hearing of the Senate Caucus on the International Narcotics Control,
03:58which examined the role that terror networks closely connected to Iran, including Hezbollah, have
04:06played in contributing to the drug crisis we face here in America.
04:12Hezbollah, one of the Iranian proxies that operates primarily in Lebanon and which obtains a substantial
04:21percentage of its funding from Iran, has developed close ties with South American drug trafficking
04:27organizations.
04:28It engages in money laundering, oil smuggling, counterfeiting, illegal weapons procurement,
04:35and has even carried out terror attacks on targets in South America, including the Argentine
04:41Israelite Mutual Association Jewish Community Center and the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
04:50And Hezbollah's activities haven't remained physically south of the border.
04:55One of the witnesses of our hearing had played an instrumental role in breaking up a Hezbollah
05:00smuggling cell in North Carolina.
05:04Cells like those discovered in North Carolina and in South America financed terror back in
05:10the Middle East and around the world.
05:14Given this context, given this history, given this reality, it goes without saying that a
05:20more dangerous Iran would put the safety and security of Americans and America's allies and
05:27American interests in peril.
05:29President Trump's actions toward Iran in Operation Epic Fury demonstrate that he understands the
05:37danger Iran poses to the world, especially if they were to acquire a nuclear weapon.
05:47If Iran were to acquire a nuclear weapon, it would permanently alter the balance of power
05:53power in the Middle East.
05:55Iran is estimated to already have 440.9 kilograms of up to 60 percent highly enriched uranium just
06:06to step away from weapons grade.
06:10There is simply no realistic civilian use for Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile.
06:17The reason they are doing this is obvious.
06:22Our President understands the art of the deal better than any modern head of state.
06:44In order to bring Iran to the negotiating table, President Trump did what any shrewd businessman would
06:51do.
06:52He applied credible pressure, threatening extreme action if a deal was not reached.
06:58Mainstream news outlets prematurely condemned his comments that they were soon proven wrong.
07:05By issuing a dramatic threat, President Trump commenced negotiations to bring the conflict to
07:12a close on terms that put America first.
07:15But it's important to remember that these negotiations were not conceding Iran's unreasonable demands,
07:22including its demand to be able to secure a nuclear weapon or issue tolls to people transiting
07:31the Strait of Hormuz.
07:33Over the weekend, Iranians demonstrated that they were not serious about reopening the Strait
07:38of Hormuz or giving up their uranium enrichment program.
07:42When it became clear that the Iranian regime was not serious about this, President Trump imposed
07:49a blockade of vessels containing Iranian oil transiting the Strait.
07:55This blockade is a critical negotiating tactic showing Iran that the United States will not
08:02cave and targeting their economic lifeline.
08:06President Trump is not abandoning diplomacy.
08:09He said diplomacy is still an option for the regime.
08:15But he's insisting on diplomacy in terms favorable to the United States and not caving against our
08:22enemies.
08:25Our President demonstrated for all to see that the ultimate way to win over a bully is not
08:31to give in, but to stand up to him.
08:35Furthermore, let's not forget this targeted operation has been successful in mitigating
08:40the threat posed by the Iranian regime toward the United States and our allies, and the data
08:46bears that out.
08:48Since the start, more than 13,000 targets have been struck, including Iranian ballistic missile
08:55sites, drone manufacturing facilities, weapons production and storage bunkers, and surface-to-air missile facilities.
09:04Missile attacks, it shouldn't be surprising, have fallen by 90 percent, as Iran has lost many of its missile launchers.
09:13Their navy is largely decimated, with more than 155 vessels damaged or destroyed.
09:21And while we're still waiting to see the ultimate outcome of the ongoing negotiations, by these measures, Operation Epic Fury
09:29has already been a resounding success.
09:33Iran relied on its ballistic missiles to defend against strikes on their enrichment facilities, so simply by knocking these out,
09:41we've set them further back in developing their nuclear weapons.
09:46President Trump understands what the progressives on the left do not, which is that a nuclear one would pose an
09:53existential threat to the free world.
09:57He's right to stand up to this regime.
09:59Finally, we have a president who's been willing to stand up to the Iranian regime, that's been at war against
10:06the West and the United States since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and which has American blood on its hands.
10:16Rather than allow the regime to continue to funnel money to terrorist organizations around the world, and holding the world
10:24hostage by halting the global oil supply, President Trump has said, enough is enough.
10:32America cannot surrender to the regime that chants death to America.
10:37America.
10:38I'm thankful for President Trump's resolve in standing up to this Islamic theocracy, and I'd encourage his distractors to rethink
10:46their positions and do the same.
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