On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) said that leaving the enriched uranium in Iran isn’t a win “as long as this regime is still in power.” “And if the IRGC and the ayatollah are still in power in Iran, it will always be a problem,” and said that if President Donald Trump “is comfortable with a new person that’s taking power, then that is a new leadership in Iran.”
Co-host John Berman asked, “On the nuclear threat, all kinds of watchdogs say Iran’s got about 400 kilograms of enriched uranium, nuclear material, buried in Isfahan. It’s still there. It was there before the war began. It’s there now. And, last night, the President said, I think the plan is to watch it by satellite. Do you think that that is satisfactory? Does that satisfy you? If the United States ends this war and there’s still 400 kilograms of enriched nuclear material in Isfahan, is that a win?”
Stutzman answered, “Not as long as this regime is still in power. We should never trust this regime. This has been going on for 40 years. And if the IRGC and the ayatollah are still in power in Iran, it will always be a problem, because these guys — they are true believers that if you don’t agree with them and their religious beliefs, that they are going to either eliminate the person or they’re going to get a nuclear bomb in order to leverage the rest of the world. And so, I think that there has to be a regime change here.”
Berman then cut in to ask, “[Y]ou said there has to be a regime change. Does that mean you don’t think there has been? Because the President said last night there was regime change.”
Stutzman answered, “Well, and, again, the President knows a lot more than I do, and who he’s talking to and how he is negotiating with the people in Iran. So, if he is comfortable with a new person that’s taking power, then that is a new leadership in Iran. And I think that that’s what’s important. We can’t let the old guys stay in power. We have to let the Iranian people have their country back. It also creates an ally in the Middle East. It brings stability to the Middle East. Watching the Gulf states stepping up through this conflict is really remarkable. This wouldn’t have happened ten years ago. And to have Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Israel, all working for the same goal here to take off the head of the snake is truly remarkable. And I think that that’s what I mean when I say there’s got to be somebody new.”
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