Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said to the best of his knowledge, there was “no indication” Iran was “anywehre close to getting nuclear weapons” following the dual military strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel.
“I don’t have present-day intelligence on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons since we bombed their facilities,” Cruz told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan Sunday morning. “I have no indication that that they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our bombing was devastating.”
At the beginning of the exchange Cruz said Trump’s decision to launch a military strike against Iran will be “the single most important decision of his presidency.”
“I think he laid out powerfully and effectively why he is taking this action. He is taking this action because the government of Iran is a profound and malign influence,” he continued. “They have been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for 47 years. They have, over that time, killed nearly 1,000 Americans. They provide more than 90% of the funding for Hamas. They provide more than 90% of the funding for Hezbollah, the Iranian ayatollah was, until yesterday, actively trying to murder the President of the United States Donald J. Trump.”
Brennan also told Cruz he was “not going to find a lot of people in any way defending the supreme leader,” but also made it clear that she wanted to discuss “putting Americans in harms way,” and asked if Trump explained his decision to pull back from diplomatic efforts.
“Because the diplomacy was an abject failure. The Iranians approached the diplomacy with arrogance, which with absolute hubris,” Cruz answered. “They said they would not stop enriching. No matter what they were going to continue to enrich uranium. They would not discuss zero enrichment. They claimed a right to enrich uranium in underground bunkers with no supervision.”
When asked if he believes Iran had an ongoing nuclear program, Cruz first pointed to American intelligence from last year. “So there is no doubt that a year ago, Iran had an active and ongoing nuclear weapons program,” he said. “We took out the vast majority of that at the end of the 12-Day War, where Israel had taken out—”
“—That U.S. intelligence assessment was not made public, if that is what was briefed to you,” Brennan interjected before Cruz continued, “We took out – we launched targeted bombs at the end of the 12-Day War, where we dropped the equivalent of about a third of a nuclear weapon on those underground facilities, facilities like Fordow, which was built into the base of a mountain.”
When it comes to “securing the nuclear material” Cruz has insisted is still in the country, the senator explained, “Look, the quantity of nuclear material I didn’t say one – anything, one way or another on that. What I said is they were building nuclear weapons a year ago, and our bombing took that out. They also had an ongoing desire to rebuild them.”
“Margaret, that’s one of the reasons I urged President Trump, now is the time. You know, dictatorships survive because they’re perceived as invulnerable. And in this instance, Iran decisively lost the 12-Day War, that weakened the regime and set up what the president is doing now.”
Watch the interview with Ted Cruz in the video above.
