Marco Rubio Slams Obama's 'Farcical Approach to Iran'

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who sits on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, came out swinging against President Barack Obamas deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Rubio labeled the deal as a diplomatic failure and slammed the administrations farcical approach to Iran and in the Middle East.

I look forward to hearing from administration officials what specific terms Iran has agreed to as part of what was supposed to be a comprehensive framework agreement, but the initial details appear to be very troubling, Rubio said on Thursday."Through more than a decade of efforts to resolve international concerns about Irans nuclear program, this regime has consistently lied about its ambitions and hidden the true nature of its efforts from the world. Among other issues, allowing Iran to retain thousands of centrifuges, keeping facilities such as Fordow open and not limiting Irans ballistic missile program indicate to me that this deal is a colossal mistake.

This attempt to spin diplomatic failure as a success is just the latest example of this administrations farcical approach to Iran, Rubio added. Under this presidents watch, Iran has expanded its influence in the Middle East, sowing instability throughout the region. Irans support for terrorism has continued unabated without a serious response from the United States. The regimes repression of the Iranian people and its detentions of American citizens continue. And now Tehran is gaining international acceptance of its nuclear ambitions and will receive significant sanctions relief without making serious concessions.

I intend to work with my colleagues to continue to ensure that any final agreement, if reached, is reviewed by Congress and that additional sanctions continue to be imposed on Iran until it completely gives up its nuclear ambitions and the regime changes its destructive behavior, Rubio added. Our message to Iran should be clear: until the regime chooses a different path, the United States will continue to isolate Iran and impose pressure. Todays announcement takes us in the opposite direction, and I fear it will have devastating consequences for nuclear nonproliferation, the security of our allies and partners, and for U.S. interests in the region.