Kay Bailey Hutchison, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to NATO, told Newsmax Monday the U.S. should be aggressive with Iran if it tries to develop nuclear weapons.
The New York Times reported this week that satellite images show Iran is working on missile and nuclear sites.
"If it can be proven that they are now retrying to recreate their nuclear capability to have a weapon, then the president, I think, will and should come right back and ... wipe it out, because then it is a security threat for us," Hutchison said on "Finnerty."
"It's a security threat for all of the neighboring countries," she added.
"And we can't allow another Third World country with a terrorist regime have nuclear weapons that could make any of us vulnerable."
Iran and the U.S. held new nuclear talks last week in Oman.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.
The former Texas senator said she does not think the United States should be pursuing regime change in Iran.
"We should have the goal of protecting people who are just exercising their right for freedom for their country," Hutchison said.
"We should be helpful to them, as we have in many other freedom-loving countries of the world."
She praised the Iranian protesters, calling them "valiant," in the face of reports of the government killing thousands of them.
"If all of those burial sites that we're seeing are verified, they should be helped by other freedom-loving countries," Hutchison said.
"The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon, killing their own people, and not serving their own people is something that should take our attention, and we should be helpful in every way that we can," she added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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