Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) argued the Biden administration is to blame for Iran’s uptick in wealth over the last few years, raising concerns over the country’s increased nuclear program.
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 through 2013, cautioned earlier this week that Iran could have a nuclear weapon operational before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated next month, stating there is “enough time” for this to happen before Trump returns to power. Amid these concerns, Fallon assessed that the Biden administration “enabled” Iran to make much more money compared to when Trump was president.
“When you look at President Trump enforcing the international sanctions on Iran, they were only able to sell about, just under $8 billion worth of exported Iranian oil,” Fallon explained on Fox News’s America Reports. “But under Joe Biden, when they didn’t enforce those sanctions, they were making $43 billion and you can sell a lot of discord, mayhem, and mischief with the $35 billion, and of course, also advance your nuclear program.”
Fallon went on to state that Iran is “the largest state-sponsor of terror” and is a country focused on imposing its form of governance on other nations. He added that beyond making the Middle East unstable, Iran is also “directly responsible” for the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The congressman also stated how a majority of Iranians want a different form of government over the theocracy it currently has. However, this is unable to happen due to the country’s residents being “ruled by the barrel of a gun.”
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Following Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, the president-elect is expected to resume his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, fulfilling a call several Republicans have made in recent months. Brian Hook, who served as Trump’s special envoy for Iran during the first administration, explained that the incoming president intends to “isolate Iran diplomatically and weaken [Iran] economically so they can’t fund all of the violence.”
Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
