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Rubio: “[S]omeday soon we will wake up to the reality that they have done a North Korea on us. They have acquired a nuclear weapon, they can hold the world hostage with that weapon, and there’s very few or little we can do about it.”

Washington, D.C. – Amid ongoing negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today warned of the threats a nuclear Iran poses to U.S. security and interests during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

A video of Rubio’s full remarks is available here.

An excerpt of the remarks is available below:

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“And I just think the danger here is quite frank. We’re going to wake up one day after this administration is long gone, some future president or future administration is going to wake up one day and realize they have had a secret weaponization program all along. All they have to do is flip the switch now on the enrichment capability. They have a long-range weapon that they can arm. They’re either a threshold nuclear power, or in fact become a nuclear power .

“And at that point what will we have? A country that now has spread their influence of terrorism so they can asymmetrically attack those who seek to impose sanctions against them. A sanctions regime that fell apart years ago, and is almost impossible to put back together with Europeans and other countries now heavily invested in their economy. A country that will basically have a nuclear weapon – think of North Korea, but motivated by radical Islamic beliefs with the capability to hit major U.S. cities, not to mention our allies in Europe. And of course Israel.

“And by the way, all of these rockets that are landing in Israel from Gaza, guess where they came from, many of them? From Iran. That’s what these people do. So look, I think we all hope and wish that this thing would work out. But I think there are very few among us in this committee that think that it will. And I’m sad that we’re going to be wrong about it. And I’m also said that anyone who criticizes this deal is often categorized as a warmonger. That we just want to go to war and carpet bomb people.

“On the contrary, here’s what I don’t want to see. I don’t want to see us fall into a situation where sanctions are no longer an option because you can’t put it back together, and now war is the only option. Because war is a terrible thing. It is a horrible thing. The only thing worse than war is crazy people with a nuclear weapon that can reach the United States of America on a rocket. That is the only thing that’s worse than a war, with regard to this situation.

“I hope I’m wrong. I don’t believe that I am. And I fear Mr. Chairman, that someday soon we will wake up to the reality that they have done a North Korea on us. They have acquired a nuclear weapon, they can hold the world hostage with that weapon, and there’s very few or little we can do about it.”