Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Tuesday that he advised President Donald Trump that diplomacy with Iran had run its course before the United States joined Israel in launching strikes on the Islamic Republic late last month.
Cruz said Tehran's leadership was negotiating in bad faith and using talks to buy time for its nuclear and missile programs.
"I spent the entire day with President Trump the day before he launched the attack on Iran," he said on Newsmax's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
Cruz said the two spoke at length about whether negotiations with Iran should continue.
"President Trump asked me the exact question you asked me, which is, 'Should we continue trying to negotiate?'" he said.
"And my answer was, 'No,' that they are lying. They are not negotiating in good faith," he said.
According to the senator, Iranian leaders have repeatedly used diplomacy as a delay tactic while expanding their military capabilities.
"They just want to delay actions while they build more missiles, while they build more drones, and while they accelerate their nuclear research program," he said.
Cruz said Iran's regime, which frequently chants "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," poses an unacceptable threat if allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
"I wish that were the case, and everyone with sense should agree to that," he said when asked whether there is universal agreement that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon.
However, Cruz argued that Democrats have taken a far weaker stance toward Tehran than Republicans.
"But virtually every Democrat in the Senate disagrees with that proposition," he said.
Cruz sharply criticized the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran, calling it a disastrous policy that effectively cleared the way for Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
"Barack Obama, the worst disaster of his presidency was negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, which put Iran on an unavoidable path to acquiring nuclear weapons," he said.
The Texas Republican credited Trump with reversing that approach during his first administration by withdrawing from the agreement.
He also blamed the Biden administration for empowering the regime financially.
"And then Joe Biden, when he was president, Joe Biden and the Democrats flowed over $100 billion into funding Iran," Cruz said.
Those resources, he argued, helped Tehran finance terrorism and expand its nuclear weapons program.
Cruz said the broader goal of the joint military action goes beyond a single strike.
"The objective of this military action, I believe, is to collapse this Iranian regime," he said, arguing that it is not in America's national security interest for a government that has funded terrorism for decades to possess nuclear weapons.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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