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House Speaker John Boehner Sunday said that if the talks with Iran fail, he will move “very” quickly to restore sanctions against that country.
“The sanctions were working,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union, hosted by Dana Bash, saying those sanctions motivated Iran to come to the table in the first place. “Frankly, we should’ve kept the sanctions in place so that we could’ve gotten to a real agreement.”
He said he believes Iran has “no intention” of keeping its word even if an agreement is reached.
“We’ve got a regime that’s never quite kept their word about anything,” Boehner said.
Should the deal fail, he said, “the sanctions are going to come, and they’re going to come quick.”
The United States and negotiating partners including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have been trying to reach a deal with Iran that would cut off that nation’s potential for developing a nuclear bomb. For its part, Iran said it wants to maintain some uranium for medical and power purposes. Critics of the negotiation, including Boehner, say that Iran is not trustworthy. Earlier this month, 47 Republican senators including Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Iran warning Iranian leaders that even if an agreement is reached, Congress might not approve it.
Boehner was one of two Ohioans to weigh in on the issue during the Sunday talk shows; speaking on Fox Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said any agreement with Iran should be “closely reviewed” by Congress.
“I’m not so much into trusting them,” Kasich said of Iran, adding that the idea of skirting Congress and asking for UN approval instead is “really a bad, bad idea.”
“I worry about proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” said Kasich, a Republican. “I worry about the proliferation of this nuclear material that could be sent to non-state actors like al Qaeda and ISIS, like any of these radicals out there.”
He said Iran’s rhetoric isn’t helping, particularly when it talks about Israel. “How do you do a deal with someone who says I want to wipe out one of your friends?” he said.
Among the critics of negotiations is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Boehner irritated the Obama administration earlier this year when he invited Netanyahu to address Congress without first notifying the administration – a speech which Kasich attended. Netanyahu was later re-elected to his post. Boehner, R-West Chester, will be traveling to Israel this coming week, a visit that some have characterized as a “victory lap.”
Boehner disputed that, saying instead “there are serious issues and activities going on in the Middle East,” and that it was “critically important” for members of Congress to know about them. He said his visit was planned months ago.
Boehner called Israel an “important ally,” and said he wants to strengthen the relationship between Congress and Israel. He said he hopeful will help do that.
“I think the animosity exhibited by our administration toward the prime minister of Israel is reprehensible,” Boehner said. “And I think the pressure they’ve put on him over last four or five years has frankly put him to the point where he had to speak up.”
Kasich, who spoke at length about balancing Ohio’s budget and the need for a federal Balanced Budget Amendment, was asked once again if he is running for president, and once again, he said “all options are on the table.”
“What’s the Lord want me to do with my life?” he asked. “ And I’ve got to figure that out.”
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