A fierce clash erupted in the U.S. Senate after a classified briefing on the recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. While Republicans praised the strikes as a major setback for Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Democrats cast doubt, with Sen. Chris Murphy bluntly saying Trump’s claims of “obliteration” don’t add up. Intelligence reports suggest Iran's program may have only been delayed by months—not years. As the truth behind the strike’s impact unfolds, partisan divisions are intensifying in Washington.
Iran's Khamenei Warns Against Future US Attacks After Ceasefire Agreement :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/irans-khamenei-warns-against-future-us-attacks-011-7784453.html?ref=DMDesc
Iran's Guardian Council Approves Bill To Suspend Cooperation With IAEA :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/irans-guardian-council-approves-bill-to-suspend-cooperation-with-iaea-7784177.html?ref=DMDesc
Mystery Shrouds Over Supreme Leader Khamenei’s Whereabouts As Iran Faces Military Crisis :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/mystery-shrouds-over-supreme-leader-khamenei-s-whereabouts-as-iran-faces-military-crisis-7783667.html?ref=DMDesc
00:00But I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because the one rocket that didn't land, that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn't land, I'm not happy about that.
00:10I can assure you what the CIA director said, that when we look at the entirety of the intelligence that we have to this date, it concludes that these strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities were absolutely successful.
00:24It was a total obliteration, as the president said, and not only does our own intelligence say that.
00:29This was an historically successful attack, and we should celebrate it as Americans, and it gives us a chance to have peace, a chance to have a deal, and an opportunity to prevent a nuclear Iran, which is something President Trump talked about for 20 years, and no other presidents had the courage to actually do.
00:45First, let me say that I've always said that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, plain and simple.
00:52President Trump said that the nuclear stockpile was completely and totally obliterated.
01:00I did not receive an adequate answer to that question.
01:04What was clear is that there was no coherent strategy, no endgame, no plan, no detailed plan on how Iran does not attain a nuclear weapon.
01:19Anyone, anyone in that meeting, anyone, if they're being honest with themselves, their constituents, their colleagues, would know that we need to enforce the War Powers Act
01:32and force them to articulate an answer to some specific questions and a coherent strategy right away.
01:40Where's the current timeline?
01:41I don't know. I'm flying my wife and kids up here to spend the weekend with me, so I don't know.
01:47I think, I mean, ideally we need to be voting this weekend, but the timeline is getting pushed because of some changes we've got to do in the bill to make some things work,
01:59and every time that happens it delays it by hours.
02:01So I feel confident that we're still going to be voting this weekend.
02:04Is it changing? So you still think we'll get it through sometime?
02:07When you say this weekend, you mean Saturday, Sunday, does that mean Monday morning at 445?
02:10Before work starts Monday, I'm pretty confident we're going to have a bill.
02:15Now that could happen. It can move quick, right?
02:18If we make big changes in the bill, then it can set us back.
02:21I mean, you've got to get a score before you can even get the bird pass started.
02:26If we just make some tweaks to the languages there, then we can go straight into the parliamentarian, and that could take hours.
02:35But then you've got a 20-hour turnaround.
02:37But part of the idea here with the alternatives to the provider taxes, Senator Thune had indicated that he had plan B and C.
02:44The idea that we cook some of these things up, have them on the back burner in case of that type of rule.
02:49Well, we have A, B, C, and now we have D, if you catch the rule that came out.
02:54But we are getting so close to the conference of just finalizing it.
02:59And, I mean, this was part of the most productive conference we've had.
03:03Listen, I appreciate the briefing.
03:05This briefing should have happened immediately after these strikes.
03:10I think there's a real question as to why the director of national intelligence is not allowed to be in these briefings.
03:18That's a question that we should get answered.
03:22Listen, to me it still appears that we have only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months.
03:30There's no doubt there was damage done to the program.
03:32But the allegations that we have obliterated their program just don't seem to stand up to reason.
03:44So, obviously, I can't share any of the details from this briefing.
03:48But I just do not think the president was telling the truth when he said this program was obliterated.
03:55They were certainly damaged under the program.
03:57But there is the significant, there's still significant remaining capability for the Iranians.
04:05Knowing what you know now, if the president had come to Congress to get approval to authorize this mission, would he have had your vote?
04:18Well, no.
04:21Ultimately, the only way to truly constrain Iran's nuclear program is diplomacy.
04:26You cannot bomb knowledge out of existence.
04:28No matter how many scientists you kill, there are still people in Iran who know how to work centrifuges.
04:33And if they still have enriched uranium, and they still have the ability to use centrifuges, then you're not setting back the program by years.
04:42You're setting back the program by months.
04:44The only path forward is diplomacy.
04:47And I just have not heard a realistic path from this administration about diplomacy.
04:52Of course, all of us would love a diplomatic agreement in which Iran promises to hold no enriched material.
05:00But that has not been a reasonable predicate for negotiations in the past, and it is not likely to be a reasonable predicate for negotiations in the future.
05:09Chairman, if there's additional force required, necessary, to do further damage to Iran's nuclear program, do you think that action should be vetted or consulted through Congress?
05:19Well, first off, as I said, I think we've caused catastrophic damage to Iran's nuclear program.
05:25That's not to say they might not try to reconstitute it at some time, but for those of you around 10 years ago during the debate over Barack Obama's nuclear weapons program,
05:36we often use the phrase vast nuclear infrastructure because it does take a vast infrastructure.
05:42And I know everyone's very focused on what happened at a couple of these underground bunkers or what happened with canisters of uranium,
05:49but if you look at the whole span of what happened over 12 days, the targeting of Iran's nuclear scientists, the underground bunkers, the centrifuges, the centrifuge manufacturing sites,
06:01the gas-to-metal conversion sites, that's why we're confident, since all of those are single points of failure in an effort to get a nuclear weapon, that we have had an extraordinary success.
06:11Now, again, both the President and Prime Minister Netanyahu have said that Iran should not try to reconstitute their nuclear weapons program,
06:19and if they do, then all options will remain on the table.
06:22If this is the government, do you think they should prosecute, and Todd Blanche wouldn't rule that out last night?
06:28Well, the law applies equally to everyone, and no one should leak classified information.
06:32If the people of both parties seem satisfied by the amount of damage caused, is there an agreement in the room?
06:39I think you'll have to ask some of our Democratic colleagues.
06:41I suspect those who are satisfied won't stop here, and those who are dissatisfied will stop and explain their reasoning.
06:49Do you have some sense of where the enriched uranium is at this point?
06:52Has the intelligence community figured that out at this point?
06:56I don't have a comment on that.
06:57I will say it was not part of the mission to destroy all their enriched uranium or to seize it or anything else.
07:04Again, this is not a Mission Impossible movie.
07:06There's not a single thing out there that can be done or not done to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon.
07:13It's the entire chain of events and people and places that you have to put together to get a nuclear weapon.
07:20The scientists, the centrifuges, the repair parts, centrifuge manufacturing, the cascades of centrifuges, the gas-to-metal conversion facilities.
07:28But I'm confident the mission was extraordinary.
07:31But if that enriched your uranium, I think on the Cain resolution, which will come up tomorrow night, you would vote out.
07:38Well, I'll say this.
07:39I love that man.
07:40And he's coming in from a very principled side.
07:44But I'm going to vote no on that simply because I would never want to restrict any future president, Republican or Democrat,
07:53to do this kind of a military kind of exercise that was very successful like this has been.
07:59It doesn't matter what Senator Murphy thinks about me or I think about him.
08:03Here's where we're at.
08:04The program was obliterated at those three sites.
08:08But they still have ambitions.
08:10I don't know where the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium exists, but it wasn't part of the target set.
08:16Are you concerned that in light of several years, when the administration is saying it's obliterated, it's just that they're not able to build a weapon.
08:26But you're saying in several years, perhaps they'll be able to.
08:29That's what I'm saying.
08:30They're obliterated today, but you can reconstitute it.
08:33Isn't the real question, have we obliterated their desire to have a nuclear weapon?
08:37As long as they desire one, as long as they want to kill all the Jews, you still have a problem on your hands.
08:44I don't want people to think that the site wasn't severely damaged or obliterated.
08:48It was.
08:49But having said that, I don't want people to think the problem is over because it's not.
08:53They're going to keep trying this as long as they change until they change their stated goal.
08:58Now, will they ever do that?
08:59I don't know.
09:03Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
