In Difficult Times Good People gravitate towards Absolute Truth
Remarks by National Security Advisor Ambassador John Bolton to the Zionist Organization of America
The State of Israel was founded in the wake of the worst atrocities known to man.
The lessons of appeasement are deeply engrained in all those who understand this important history and are determined to prevent the mistakes of the past.
Our solemn pledge, "Never Again," will mean nothing if we allow a regime that calls for the total annihilation of Israel to possess the world's deadliest weapons.
Not on our watch.
We remember the dangers of naïve hopes, and unenforceable promises. Unfortunately, the deal's negotiators clearly did not.
The 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal failed to permanently block all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb. Further, its negotiators failed to secure any restrictions on Iran's other destabilizing activities, including the regime's ballistic missile development and proliferation.
Earlier this year, we saw undeniable proof of what we had long known: the 2015 agreement was built on a flat lie, the absurd claim that the Iranian regime desired only a peaceful nuclear program.
In April, Israeli intelligence proved once and for all that Iran had long pursued nuclear weapons, and that it had lied about it repeatedly to the United States and the world.
Unsurprisingly, since this horrible deal was reached, the Iranian regime's aggression has only increased.
Iran's military budget has ballooned by nearly forty percent.
The regime is funneling billions of dollars into horrific violence in Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria.
The mullahs have also used their new funds from the deal to build and proliferate missiles throughout the region.
U.S. intelligence clearly shows that Iran is actively enhancing its missile systems and technologies. The regime has advanced its precision-strike capability, its anti-ship targeting abilities, and its potential missile target sets.
Iran obtains critical missile components and supplies through vast networks of agents and front companies all over the world.
In recent months, we know that the regime has been working with suppliers in Asia and Europe to acquire numerous electronic components, metals, and other materials, including sophisticated European and U.S. equipment.
Iran has spread these dangerous weapons across the Middle East and beyond, including into Syria, where they can be used to threaten Israel. Already this year, Iranian forces have used bases inside Syria to launch attacks against the Golan Heights and Israeli service members.
As the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran also remains the primary patron of numerous terrorist proxies and militias, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
Over the years, Tehran has financed and facilitated countless terrorist activities. Last month, Danish authorities arrested an Iranian agent for plotting an assassination on Danish soil. This past summer, several Iranian diplomats were arrested for masterminding a bomb plot in Paris. And in August, two Iranian agents, residents of the United States, were arrested by the FBI and charged with surveilling American citizens and Israeli and Jewish facilities in the United States, including a Jewish community center in Chicago.
Why would Iranian agents surveil a Jewish community center if not for malicious purposes?
Former U.S. officials should reflect deeply on this question before promoting their pet diplomatic projects with Iran on TV and radio networks across our country.
The tragic events in Pittsburgh last month remind us all of our shared responsibility to confront anti-Semitism and hatred, wherever and whenever it surfaces, including when it is propagated by state actors with nefarious intentions.
Under this administration, we will make certain Iran understands the consequences of targeting American and Israeli citizens.
As I said at the United Nations in September, if the Iranian regime continues to lie, cheat, and deceive; if it threatens the United States and our allies; if it harms our citizens, there will indeed be HELL to PAY.
In case there is any doubt, I meant what I said.
Just last month, the President decided to terminate the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran. The regime cannot practice animosity in its conduct and then ask for amity under international law.
Last month, we also withdrew from the Optional Protocol on Dispute Resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which purported to permit the so-called State of Palestine's lawsuit against the United States at the International Court of Justice.
We will not allow anyone to promote baseless, politicized claims against the United States and Israel.
In August, we also began reimposing hard-hitting nuclear sanctions that had been lifted under the Iran Nuclear Deal. All nuclear-related sanctions will be back in full force tomorrow, thus completing the termination of U.S. participation in the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Measures coming back into force tomorrow include powerful sanctions on Iran's energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors, and sanctions targeting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran and sanctioned Iranian banks. And we will not stop here-President Trump has called for maximum pressure on Iran, and his administration will deliver. I am confident.
Collectively, under this administration, we have levied the toughest-ever sanctions against Iran in history, and they are already having a devastating effect on the Iranian economy.
The Iranian rial has lost about seventy percent of its value; the Iranian inflation rate has nearly quadrupled since May, and Iran's economy is sliding into recession.
More than 100 companies have decided to cease doing business with Iran, and that number is growing daily.
As a result of the administration's tough stance on curtailing the regime's oil exports, Iranian oil exports have also fallen dramatically. Since May, over 20 countries have reduced their imports of Iranian oil to zero and Iran's oil exports have fallen by over a million barrels per day.
Moving forward, President Trump intends to pursue additional, tougher measures, to apply maximum pressure on the regime and force it to choose between changing its behavior and economic disaster.
We will also strictly enforce all previously existing sanctions-much tighter than under the Obama administration.
This is a maximum pressure campaign. We are targeting the regime's funding, leadership, proxies, militias, and enablers. Any individual or entity that fails to comply with U.S. sanctions will risk severe consequences.
All nations and businesses should follow the lead of companies like Siemens, Maersk, Hyundai, Boeing, Total, Allianz, Daimler, Mazda, and Reliance Oil, among others, which have all decided to stop doing business with Iran.
European nations who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand should appreciate the need to cut business ties with a regime that spreads anti-Semitic propaganda, promotes terrorism against the Jewish people, and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
The citizens of the United States and Israel share a profound faith in God and a pervasive and ever-present awareness of our history.
We understand the sacrifices of those who came before us, to build our nations, to carve out a home for freedom and liberty, to defend our security, and safeguard our future.
Critically, the American and Israeli people also recognize what is required of us to preserve our nations today. Together, there is no threat that the United States and Israel cannot face down, no challenge we cannot overcome, and no limit to our common potential.
President Trump has opened a new and exciting chapter in U.S.-Israeli relations.
We are standing united on the international stage.
We are condemning and defunding anti-Semitic and anti-Israel organizations.
We are striving toward a future of peace for all in the Middle East.
And, we are doing what is right by our people and the world.
The United States will continue to work closely with our Israeli counterparts in the days and months ahead to further deepen the unbreakable alliance between our nations.
We will be depending on organizations like ZOA to advance these vital efforts. Thank you very much.
Go Back
The lessons of appeasement are deeply engrained in all those who understand this important history and are determined to prevent the mistakes of the past.
Our solemn pledge, "Never Again," will mean nothing if we allow a regime that calls for the total annihilation of Israel to possess the world's deadliest weapons.
Not on our watch.
We remember the dangers of naïve hopes, and unenforceable promises. Unfortunately, the deal's negotiators clearly did not.
The 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal failed to permanently block all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb. Further, its negotiators failed to secure any restrictions on Iran's other destabilizing activities, including the regime's ballistic missile development and proliferation.
Earlier this year, we saw undeniable proof of what we had long known: the 2015 agreement was built on a flat lie, the absurd claim that the Iranian regime desired only a peaceful nuclear program.
In April, Israeli intelligence proved once and for all that Iran had long pursued nuclear weapons, and that it had lied about it repeatedly to the United States and the world.
Unsurprisingly, since this horrible deal was reached, the Iranian regime's aggression has only increased.
Iran's military budget has ballooned by nearly forty percent.
The regime is funneling billions of dollars into horrific violence in Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria.
The mullahs have also used their new funds from the deal to build and proliferate missiles throughout the region.
U.S. intelligence clearly shows that Iran is actively enhancing its missile systems and technologies. The regime has advanced its precision-strike capability, its anti-ship targeting abilities, and its potential missile target sets.
Iran obtains critical missile components and supplies through vast networks of agents and front companies all over the world.
In recent months, we know that the regime has been working with suppliers in Asia and Europe to acquire numerous electronic components, metals, and other materials, including sophisticated European and U.S. equipment.
Iran has spread these dangerous weapons across the Middle East and beyond, including into Syria, where they can be used to threaten Israel. Already this year, Iranian forces have used bases inside Syria to launch attacks against the Golan Heights and Israeli service members.
As the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran also remains the primary patron of numerous terrorist proxies and militias, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
Over the years, Tehran has financed and facilitated countless terrorist activities. Last month, Danish authorities arrested an Iranian agent for plotting an assassination on Danish soil. This past summer, several Iranian diplomats were arrested for masterminding a bomb plot in Paris. And in August, two Iranian agents, residents of the United States, were arrested by the FBI and charged with surveilling American citizens and Israeli and Jewish facilities in the United States, including a Jewish community center in Chicago.
Why would Iranian agents surveil a Jewish community center if not for malicious purposes?
Former U.S. officials should reflect deeply on this question before promoting their pet diplomatic projects with Iran on TV and radio networks across our country.
The tragic events in Pittsburgh last month remind us all of our shared responsibility to confront anti-Semitism and hatred, wherever and whenever it surfaces, including when it is propagated by state actors with nefarious intentions.
Under this administration, we will make certain Iran understands the consequences of targeting American and Israeli citizens.
As I said at the United Nations in September, if the Iranian regime continues to lie, cheat, and deceive; if it threatens the United States and our allies; if it harms our citizens, there will indeed be HELL to PAY.
In case there is any doubt, I meant what I said.
Just last month, the President decided to terminate the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran. The regime cannot practice animosity in its conduct and then ask for amity under international law.
Last month, we also withdrew from the Optional Protocol on Dispute Resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which purported to permit the so-called State of Palestine's lawsuit against the United States at the International Court of Justice.
We will not allow anyone to promote baseless, politicized claims against the United States and Israel.
In August, we also began reimposing hard-hitting nuclear sanctions that had been lifted under the Iran Nuclear Deal. All nuclear-related sanctions will be back in full force tomorrow, thus completing the termination of U.S. participation in the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Measures coming back into force tomorrow include powerful sanctions on Iran's energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors, and sanctions targeting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran and sanctioned Iranian banks. And we will not stop here-President Trump has called for maximum pressure on Iran, and his administration will deliver. I am confident.
Collectively, under this administration, we have levied the toughest-ever sanctions against Iran in history, and they are already having a devastating effect on the Iranian economy.
The Iranian rial has lost about seventy percent of its value; the Iranian inflation rate has nearly quadrupled since May, and Iran's economy is sliding into recession.
More than 100 companies have decided to cease doing business with Iran, and that number is growing daily.
As a result of the administration's tough stance on curtailing the regime's oil exports, Iranian oil exports have also fallen dramatically. Since May, over 20 countries have reduced their imports of Iranian oil to zero and Iran's oil exports have fallen by over a million barrels per day.
Moving forward, President Trump intends to pursue additional, tougher measures, to apply maximum pressure on the regime and force it to choose between changing its behavior and economic disaster.
We will also strictly enforce all previously existing sanctions-much tighter than under the Obama administration.
This is a maximum pressure campaign. We are targeting the regime's funding, leadership, proxies, militias, and enablers. Any individual or entity that fails to comply with U.S. sanctions will risk severe consequences.
All nations and businesses should follow the lead of companies like Siemens, Maersk, Hyundai, Boeing, Total, Allianz, Daimler, Mazda, and Reliance Oil, among others, which have all decided to stop doing business with Iran.
European nations who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand should appreciate the need to cut business ties with a regime that spreads anti-Semitic propaganda, promotes terrorism against the Jewish people, and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
The citizens of the United States and Israel share a profound faith in God and a pervasive and ever-present awareness of our history.
We understand the sacrifices of those who came before us, to build our nations, to carve out a home for freedom and liberty, to defend our security, and safeguard our future.
Critically, the American and Israeli people also recognize what is required of us to preserve our nations today. Together, there is no threat that the United States and Israel cannot face down, no challenge we cannot overcome, and no limit to our common potential.
President Trump has opened a new and exciting chapter in U.S.-Israeli relations.
We are standing united on the international stage.
We are condemning and defunding anti-Semitic and anti-Israel organizations.
We are striving toward a future of peace for all in the Middle East.
And, we are doing what is right by our people and the world.
The United States will continue to work closely with our Israeli counterparts in the days and months ahead to further deepen the unbreakable alliance between our nations.
We will be depending on organizations like ZOA to advance these vital efforts. Thank you very much.
- Contact: White House
- Press Office
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