Rand Paul: Sanctions Would Ruin Iran Negotiations

Senator Challenges GOP Rivals on Iran Hawkishness

A weekend presidential forum attended by several would-be 2016 candidates faced multiple calls for more sanctions and hostility toward Iran, along with bizarrely hysterical predictions of doom. Sen. Ted Cruz (R – TX) even predicted Iran would soon be able to nuke “Tel Aviv, New York or Los Angeles.”

Yet Sen. Rand Paul (R – KY) sought to separate himself from the pack by being opposed to the sanctions, noting, as so many have, that they would ruin the negotiations with Iran, and insisting he favors diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program.

Paul challenged the others to take their hostility to the negotiations to a logical conclusion, asking if any of them were ready to commit 100,000 ground troops to an invasion of Iran.

Though some of the more hawkish candidates may indeed be comfortable with such a war, few are going to want to campaign on the idea of starting it, and that is why they’ve tried to couch the sanctions as a step short of war.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.