OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Iran

Floor Speech

Date: March 25, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, meanwhile, on the international front, President Trump is taking a similarly assertive approach to protecting our country and our interests.

Over the last 18 months, since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Iran-backed Houthis in the Middle East have carried out literally hundreds of attacks on U.S. international shipping and on U.S. forces. Airstrikes by the Biden administration failed to stop the Houthis' activities, and international shipping has been significantly affected. Ships now routinely avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal in favor of going around the southern tip of Africa, a route that means longer travel times for goods. And those ships that do traverse the Red Sea face significant danger to their cargoes and, above all, to their personnel.

This is an unacceptable situation, and so President Trump is taking action. Within days of taking office, President Trump had redesignated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization--after the Biden administration took them off the list--and 10 days ago, President Trump ordered extensive airstrikes against Houthi targets. Even more importantly, he has made it very clear to the Houthis that those strikes will continue, unless and until the Houthis cease their attacks on U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

And because the Houthis do not act alone but with the support of Iran, President Trump is also making it clear to Iran that it needs to stop aiding and abetting Houthi terror. So much of the violence and unrest in the Middle East is carried out by groups funded, armed, and sometimes trained by Iran, and any response to this violence must recognize Iran's role, as well as that of its proxies, like the Houthis.

I am grateful for the long-overdue action that President Trump is taking, both here at home, on our border, and against Houthi terrorists abroad. It is this kind of decisive action that will encourage our enemies to think twice before menacing our Nation or threatening our interests.

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