Iran is the world's principal state-sponsor of terrorism. It is interfering with stabilization efforts in Iraq, undermining the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stifling democracy in Lebanon, and it has been deceiving International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the international community about the extent and the purpose of its nuclear program for decades. Furthermore, since being elected in June 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has aggressively pursued an extremist foreign policy that not only directly threatens military action by a nuclear-armed Iran against Israel, but also vows that "anybody [widely understood to be a reference to the United States and Western Europe] who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nations' fury."
Some in Congress, the Administration and international diplomatic circles still believe that Iran can be reasoned with much the same way that leaders in Europe thought Hitler could be reasoned with before World War Two. Yet, time and time again, Iran has scorned diplomatic and economic propositions offered by the international community to renounce terrorism and give up its nuclear ambitions. It seems to me that Iran's strategic plan is blatantly obvious: with one hand it is stringing along diplomatic negotiations with the world's powers, while with the hand behind its back it continues to pursue nuclear research. Unless the world wakes up to this problem soon and holds the regime in Iran accountable for its threatening behavior, there is no doubt in my mind that the world - particularly Israel and the United States - will be forced to deal with the deadly consequences of having a radical anti-American, anti-Western, anti-Israel regime, armed with nuclear weapons and entrenched as the dominant power in the Middle East.
I believe that we should cultivate U.S. support among the Iranian population and substantially increase democracy promotion efforts that encourage the population to demand more moderate leadership. I believe that we should increase communication through TV, radio, and the Internet to widely disseminate information inside Iran about the regime's repression and corruption. And I believe that we should provide more effective assistance to Iranian dissidents and pro-democracy Non-Governmental Organizations here in the United States and abroad. In the end though, the bottom line is that Iran must not acquire a nuclear weapon period.