Ted Cruz Hammers Biden Over Iran Policy, Questions Trump Nominee About 'Maximum Pressure' Campaign

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At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned Joel Rayburn, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State.

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00:00for me and put the usual matters on the record. I would appreciate it. Thank you very much.

00:03Thank you for being here. Very good. Thank you.

00:09Mr. Rayburn, you were involved in withdrawing from the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal

00:15during the first Trump administration. After that withdrawal, President Trump imposed a maximum

00:21pressure campaign that brought the regime to the brink of collapse and kept their nuclear program

00:27in a box. President Biden functionally re-implemented the nuclear deal, providing all of the concessions

00:34so that Iran could build out its nuclear program and rebuild its oil exports. I used to ask Biden

00:41officials why they weren't cracking down on Iran, and the answer they used to give was essentially

00:46there's nothing we can do. President Trump and the current Republican Congress are committed

00:51to rebuilding that maximum pressure. Talk about what a maximum pressure campaign would look like

00:57and how you intend to pursue it. Senator, thanks for the question, and I appreciated you taking the time

01:02so that we could discuss these and other regional issues also offline. Absolutely, it's not rocket

01:08science, Senator. I had a chance to participate and see what works. You have to build out an enforcement

01:15apparatus. It's one thing to have the sanctions on the books. You have to have the people, the

01:21organizations, the resources, the diplomatic engagement to actually enforce. You have to engage

01:27with your allies. You have to disrupt the ghost fleet of vessels that the Iranian regime uses to

01:31illicitly transport its oil. You have to expose its financial dealings so that they can't benefit from

01:38the money that moves with those transactions. You have to warn maybe unwitting participants in those

01:45transactions. You have to expose the beneficial ownership of the vessels, of the front companies,

01:50of the financial houses. You have to engage the insurance sector so that they understand that

01:56they're potentially insuring IRGC tankers and things like that. And you have to engage with those who flag

02:03the vessels so that they understand what they're doing. When you do all those things, you can make a real

02:07dent in their oil exports. At the same time, you also have to be politically isolating them. You have to

02:13make the Iranian regime an international pariah on the terms of its malign behavior and do that with allies,

02:23with the coalition of political and economic pressure. And that's what works. I've seen it work.

02:29Well, I will say that was a thorough and comprehensive answer, and it is precisely the opposite of what

02:35the Biden administration did for four years, which is why Iran is on the verge of nuclear breakout.

02:41As part of the maximum pressure campaign, President Trump is committed to ensure that Iran is never

02:48allowed to enrich uranium. He has called for what has been described as, quote, complete dismantlement.

02:56Iran cannot be allowed to keep spinning centrifuges because under the Biden administration,

03:03they built out their program so much that any activity would allow them to cheat. You spoke

03:09about this earlier with Senator Ricketts, but I want to circle back to it. Talk about President Trump's

03:15red line of dismantlement and why it's so important. Yes, Senator. Thank you. It's because

03:21the Iranians, if civil nuclear power is the objective of the Iranian nuclear program, they do not need to be

03:29able to enrich their own uranium. There are almost two dozen. There are dozens of other countries in the world that have

03:35similar civil nuclear power programs that do not have their own indigenous enrichment. They purchase the fuel from

03:41third parties. They also don't reprocess the spent fuel. So there's no need for the Iranians to do that.

03:48And that is the President's position. There needs to be a dismantlement of their facilities, of their centrifuges, and so on.

03:55There are many technical ways that can be accomplished. Secretary Rubio has laid out the same. Special Envoy

03:59Whitcoff has laid out the same. And it's because of the Iranian regime's demonstrated bad faith. It's that

04:06they don't operate in good faith when you strike an agreement with them. So there has to be very strict

04:11restrictions and oversight. I think that's absolutely right. And I would note, at least from my perspective,

04:17I see no reason that the Iranians should have nuclear power generation either.

04:23Um, they are literally swimming on a sea of oil. It's not like they are are lacking for energy and and sources of energy.

04:31And I feel confident the Ayatollah is not staying awake at night worried about climate change.

04:35Um, and and so at least from my perspective, I'm not interested in anything radioactive being anywhere near a

04:43theocratic zealot who leads chants of death to America and death to Israel.

04:46Um, Mr. DeSombre. The Chinese Communist Party is working every day to erode Taiwan's status globally.

04:54For years, I've raised concerns over the State Department's deeply frustrating policy prohibiting

04:59our Taiwanese allies from displaying symbols of their sovereignty, including their flag,

05:03on American soil. That was an Obama era policy that came about at the express behest of the Chinese

05:09embassy. I fought against that policy. I pushed legislation reversing that policy language that

05:16has been repeatedly advanced and and received bipartisan support in this committed committee.

05:22It is the repeated explicit policy coming out of this committee to reverse that policy.

05:27The Trump administration changed it, but the Biden administration immediately restored the prohibition.

05:33Secretary of State Rubio stated, as part of his written testimony of this committee,

05:38that he is committed to working with the committee to strengthen our unofficial ties with Taiwan.

05:45I'm putting you on the spot here a little bit, but describe the importance of bolstering our

05:50Taiwanese allies. Senator, thank you very much for that question and thank you for making your staff

05:55available to meet with me earlier this week. Um, on a personal note, Taiwan was the the first foreign

06:00country I lived in after I graduated from, uh, from Stanford and have had a deep experience there for on a

06:05business perspective over the last 28 years. Um, our relationship with Thailand and in our

06:11replacement our relationship with Taiwan is a very important. They're a great partner of ours and we

06:17should seek to in strengthen that partnership and also encourage our allies and partners to support Taiwan.

06:24Well, I agree with that and I'm going to encourage you and your colleagues at

06:27state to go back to the previous Trump policy that allows the Taiwanese to display their symbols of

06:32sovereignty. Uh, the Obama Biden caving to communist China policy is not a good one and not one that

06:39the Trump administration should be following. Uh, I want to thank each of the witnesses for providing us

06:45with the benefit of your testimony and responses. Uh, before closing, I'd like to ask unanimous consent to add any

06:50letters of support the committee has received to be added to the record without objection. So ordered.

06:55I will also note for the information of members that the record will remain open until close of business

07:00tomorrow, May 16th, including for members to submit questions for the record. With the thanks of this committee,

07:06the hearing is now adjourned.

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