WASHINGTON — Likely GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday criticized the White House's Iran strategy — but would not endorse using military force.
As Congress gets ready to address a new war authorization for the Islamic State fight and Iran's nuclear ambitions, all eyes are on the Florida senator and other sitting members who are mulling a White House bid.
The first-term senator painted a bleak picture of the prospects for the White House and other Western powers to ink a deal with Tehran in the ongoing "P5+1 Talks."
"Generally speaking, I continue to believe that the Iranian supreme leader will eventually move for a nuclear weapon," Rubio told reporters following a classified briefing from Obama administration officials for Senate Foreign Relations Committee members.
"We have to understand that Iran is governed by a radical Shia cleric whose goal is to trigger an apocalyptic showdown with the West — whether it's now or it's five years from now or 10 years from now," Rubio said.
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The Obama administration is pushing congressional leaders to hold off on floor votes on measures that would slap new economic sanctions on Iran until the current round of talks conclude — either with a deal or the end of negotiations.
Rubio suggested the regime in Iran believes "the West is desperate for a deal."
He supports a push by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to put off any floor votes on a Banking Committee-passed deal until at least March 24. The idea is to give the talks one last chance to spawn an accord.
"I'm prepared to move on sanctions right now. I think the outcome of these negotiations is clear for anyone who's followed how Iran has used negotiations in the past … a tool to buy time and space while they developed, for instance, their long-range missile capabilities.
"At the end of the day, I think the talks are a tactic by the Iranian government to buy time and space to continue their [nuclear arms] efforts," Rubio said.
His skepticism of the talks and Iranian leaders' intentions begs the question: As someone who is eyeing President Barack Obama's job, does he want the sitting commander in chief to take military action on Iran's nuclear facilities before a new president takes office?
"I think the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapons is a threat that's going to exist beyond his presidency," Rubio told CongressWatch after a larger scrum broke up.
"I think he needs to do the best he can to deal with it right now," he said. "But I think it's an issue that's going to be an ongoing issue for the foreseeable future.
"I think all options need to be on the table because of the risk that [a nuclear Iran] an Iranian nuclear poses — not only to the US but to the region and the world, really. Those are decisions that will be made at the appropriate time."
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