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Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, this year, at my annual 99 county meetings, I was asked about the operations in Iran and was asked the question of why the administration's actions were necessary.
For starters, there are historic reasons the United States must address the threat of Iran. ``Death to America,'' we hear from over there, and that is death to individual Americans.
Just recently--last week, for instance--there was an Iraqi indicted. He was captured overseas and brought to the United States because his sole purpose was to kill people, including even here in America.
If you go back to 1979, when it started, Iranian revolutionaries almost immediately seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 American hostage for 444 days. One of those Foreign Service officers was a native of Waverly, IA.
Four years later, Iranian-backed terrorist groups carried out a suicide car bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. They drove two truck bombs into the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut--killing over 250 Americans.
In 1996, the Iranian regime carried out another truck bombing near a United States Air Force housing complex in Saudi Arabia--killing 19 Americans and wounding more than 370.
In 2007, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out a plot in Iraq that killed five members of the United States armed services and wounded three others.
And then we all know how destructive the bomb was that we call the improvised explosive device that was buried and killed about 600 American servicepeople and wounded many others.
Now, what is more is that the regime also continues its efforts to build nuclear weapons.
In 2003, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also known as the IAEA, revealed that Iran had engaged in a variety of clandestine nuclear-related activities.
In 2005, the IAEA's Board of Governors found Iran in noncompliance with the Agency's safeguard agreements.
In 2014, the Director of National Intelligence reported to Congress that Iran had made substantial progress with its nuclear program.
In 2025, the IAEA declared that Iran had enough enriched uranium-- just short of weapons grade--to potentially make nine nuclear bombs.
So Iran is not a distant or theoretical threat. It is a direct U.S. national security concern. A nuclear-capable Iran would be able to expand its support for global terrorism, threaten American forces across the region, and put our allies at immediate risk. Over time, Iran's capability could extend beyond the region, increasing the risk to the American homeland itself. This presents a clear threat that the United States could not afford to ignore.
I am happy that President Trump took action to address this threat that seven previous Presidents did not consider necessary, and I remain hopeful that a long-lasting peace agreement can soon be reached.
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