Mitch Perry
As one the 100 members of the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio‘s opinion about the just-announced nuclear agreement between Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States matters. The proposal would significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions matters, and is expected to be debated throughout the summer, with a final vote by the Senate expected in September.
Based on his short statement released Tuesday morning, you can mark Rubio down as a “no” vote.
“I have said from the beginning of this process that I would not support a deal with Iran that allows the mullahs to retain the ability to develop nuclear weapons, threaten Israel, and continue their regional expansionism and support for terrorism. Based on what we know thus far, I believe that this deal undermines our national security,” he said.
Rubio has been an unrelenting critic of the proposal for months, well before the final agreement was in hand. He’s used the issue to criticize President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. As he did in criticizing Obama for making in renewing diplomatic relations with Cuba, Rubio blasted Obama for being a weak negotiator.
“President Obama has consistently negotiated from a position of weakness, giving concession after concession to a regime that has American blood on its hands, holds Americans hostage, and has consistently violated every agreement it ever signed. I expect that a significant majority in Congress will share my skepticism of this agreement and vote it down. Failure by the president to obtain congressional support will tell the Iranians and the world that this is Barack Obama’s deal, not an agreement with lasting support from the United States,” he said.
Rubio then predicted that it will be the next president “to return us to a position of American strength and re-impose sanctions on this despicable regime until it is truly willing to abandon its nuclear ambitions and is no longer a threat to international security.”
Meanwhile, as of 9:15 a.m Tuesday, Jeb Bush had not released a statement. Word is he is actually reading the 80-page document, and would not comment until he had finished reviewing the deal.
