Sen. Ted Cruz lambasted President Obama’s comparison between Republicans and Iranian hardliners Wednesday, saying, “it is just sad that the levels to which this president and the Democratic party today will stoop.”
Appearing on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Cruz further criticized the Iran deal’s inspections, stating that they “are not materially different than if we simply picked up the phone and called the ayatollah and asked him, ‘Excuse me, sir, are you developing nuclear weapons? No? Sounds good to us.’”
Hugh Hewitt: Now, let’s get serious, and this unfortunately very serious. The president said the most slanderous thing about fellow Americans today and he said it about you and your fellow Republicans. Let me play it for you…
Barack Obama: It’s those hard-liners chanting “Death to America” who’ve been most opposed to the deal! They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus.
HH: So Senator Cruz, you’ve been called a lot of names in the last five years, but I don’t think you’ve ever been compared to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Ted Cruz: Well, you know, it is just sad that the levels to which this president and the Democratic party today will stoop. That kind of slander… I tell you, I, literally just minutes ago, left a classified briefing with senior administration officials–[garbled]–the so-called Inspections Regime. I’m not at liberty describe the details because it’s classified, but it is public that before any site can be inspected, Iran gets twenty-four days notice which on its face makes a mockery of the promise of “anytime, anywhere” inspections and indeed, if you think about it, in a local law enforcement setting, imagine if the state of California passed a law that said law enforcement cannot execute a search warrant on a drug lord without giving the drug lord twenty-four days notice of the place to be searched. Now any such law would produce predictable results — 100% of the time, the searches would produce no drugs. Now even the dumbest drug lord in the world with a twenty-four days notice could move the drugs, but it’s even worse, I will tell you, listening to the classified briefing of the deals of the Inspection Regime. These inspections are not materially different than if we simply picked up the phone and called the ayatollah and asked him, “Excuse me, sir, are you developing nuclear weapons? No? Sounds good to us.” The idea that we are trusting Iran to “inspect themselves” is. . . so laughable as to be horrifying and I’ll tell you why it’s horrifying, Hugh. Because no one would sign this agreement without full well the certain consequences of this agreement are that Iran acquires nuclear weapons. That anyone that would want a theocratic ayatollah who chants “Death to America” while burning American flags is someone who is willing to profoundly endanger the national security and the lives of millions of Americans.