‘I'm not surprised at all’: Sen. Johnson on failed peace talks

[0:00] I'm joined now by GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Good morning to you, Senator. [0:05] You have been a supporter of this war. But after 21 hours of really historic negotiations, [0:11] there was no deal cut. And it's basically, according to J.D. Vance, take it or leave it. [0:16] What's your reaction? Well, good morning, Martha. Well, first of all, I'm not supportive of the war [0:23] with Iran. But that's because Iran declared war on America 47 years ago. [0:29] They have blood on their hands of American soldiers, hundreds, probably thousands of them. [0:35] But it's the ayatollahs, it's the regime that declared war on America, not the Iranian people. [0:40] So we're not at war with the Iranian people. We're trying to end the state-sponsored terrorism. [0:47] We're trying to end the threat, the menace that Iran represents, not only to America, [0:51] but to world security and peace. So I'm supportive of ending [0:56] the Iranian regime's ability to threaten world peace and security. [1:01] And what's your reaction to what happened here in Islamabad with no deal? [1:10] What do you think happens now? I'm not surprised at all. [1:16] The ayatollahs, even though they have been, you know, so degraded in terms of their capabilities, [1:24] nobody thought this would be easy. They've been preparing for this for 47 years. They have [1:29] multiple layers. They've got 200,000 people in the IRGC, 600,000 people in the Basij police force. [1:36] They are brutal. By the way, this is exactly what nationwide gun control results in. [1:42] The Iranian people are completely disarmed. It's going to be very difficult for them to rise up. [1:47] And so it's a very difficult situation. Now, I hope, I hope that President Trump is successful in this, [1:53] because if we could just imagine the world if the ayatollahs, the brutal Iranian regime is no longer [2:00] in power. That's what we're trying to achieve. The president was at a UFC fight in Florida [2:08] with Marco Rubio during the negotiations. He was getting updates. But earlier in the day, [2:12] he said whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me. And the reason is because we've won. [2:18] It makes no difference? Well, first of all, we will not have won [2:25] until we have completely defanged the Iranian regime. We have to make sure. I thought it was [2:33] very interesting in President Trump's address to the nation when he spoke to the families of Dover, [2:38] how apparently to a person they said, finish the job. And to me, finishing the job is to make sure that [2:44] Iran can never produce a nuclear weapon. They can no longer enrich uranium, that hopefully we can remove [2:51] that enrich uranium, that they can no longer hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage, that they can no longer [2:58] brutalize the Iranian people. They can no longer be a sponsor of state terror. So we have to finish [3:05] the job. Again, there's multiple ways of potentially doing it, short-term, long-term. There are multiple [3:13] avenues we can approach here. But we have not yet finished the job. [3:16] Meanwhile, we have 50,000 troops in harm's way right now. We have Gulf allies in harm's way. [3:26] We have gas prices spiking, oil barrels, the price raised there. President Trump was asked [3:34] about people who are not fans of the war, asked specifically, what do you say to Americans who [3:39] are not fans of the war? And he said, they're foolish because the war is about one thing. Iran cannot [3:46] have a nuclear weapon. So what would you say to those Americans who are sitting at home, [3:51] seeing those 50,000 troops in harm's way, seeing gas prices spike, and listening to you saying how [3:58] complicated this could be and that it could continue for a long time? [4:02] Well, first of all, it's a good answer. That's exactly the reason why we have to make sure [4:08] that the Iranian regime is ended. You know, whether it's President Obama, President Biden, President [4:15] Trump, they all said we can never allow Iran to become a nuclear power. The problem with what [4:20] President Obama and Biden did is they coddled the regime. They funneled billions of dollars, [4:25] strengthened the regime, allowed them to sponsor state terror, allowed them to continue enriching [4:30] uranium. And at some point in time, we had to act before we couldn't, before Iran became a nuclear [4:37] power, before they had so many missiles and so many drones that this kind of action would have [4:40] devastated the region. It's already done enough damage. So, again, I know it's a tough decision [4:45] for President Trump because he knew it wouldn't be easy. And it's not easy. And it could be longer [4:50] term here. But I don't believe it's going to require boots on the ground, you know, potentially [4:55] assets to help the Iranian people. Other people eventually completely destroy the regime. But [5:01] let's face it, this regime is incredibly weakened. You know, all their bold statements [5:04] reminds me of Baghdad bomb. You know, they are not in a position of strength right now. And we also [5:10] have to make sure that China and Russia no longer help Iran. I heard a very disturbing report that [5:16] apparently China is going to be sending man pads to Iran. We need to express in no uncertain terms [5:24] China had better not do that. You know, we certainly have the capability of blocking oil from the [5:30] state of Hormuz going to China as well. So, again, we have plenty, plenty of power in this situation [5:38] and we need to use it. Senator, I want to go back to you saying that President Trump had a good [5:45] answer about what do you say to Americans who are not a fan of the war. He did say they're foolish. [5:51] Do you agree they're foolish not to be fans of the war? No, no. The answer he gave that I agreed [5:57] with is we cannot allow Iran to become a nuclear power. They have missile technology. All they would have to [6:03] do is park a barge in international waters off the shores of the U.S., lob one of those missiles, have a high [6:09] altitude nuclear blast, an EMP event. We could wipe out America's electrical grid. That would be [6:16] existential threat to America. So Iran represents an existential threat to America. That's why Obama, [6:23] Biden and Trump said we can't allow them to become a nuclear power, but they're racing toward it. [6:28] You know, Martha, if Iran didn't want to be attacked, if they wanted to be left alone, all they had to do [6:34] was say, we're not going to enrich uranium. We'll allow inspectors in to make sure that we're not [6:39] doing it. Because they didn't allow that, because they allowed their economy to become devastated, [6:44] just proves the point that they were absolutely dedicated to become a nuclear power and threaten [6:49] and potentially destroy America. We had to take that threat seriously. [6:52] But, Senator, they're not doing that. They're not stopping. The strait is essentially closed. [6:58] They still have that enriched uranium. So what do you do now? You yourself did not like the [7:04] president threatening civilian power grids and structures. So if the cease-fire fails, [7:09] what do they go after? What do they do? [7:14] Again, you keep degrading the Iranian regime. I think it's interesting that you have Iranians actually [7:20] calling in airstrikes against some of their leadership. It's remarkable the amount of destruction [7:25] we've already brought to the Iranian regime without really harming that much civilian [7:31] infrastructure. So, again, I think we continue down that path. We make sure that we deter [7:35] China and Russia from helping out Iran. We continue to weaken the regime until they are no longer [7:40] effective and the Iranian people can reclaim their own liberty and take over Iran themselves. [7:46] Again, it's going to be a long-term project. And that could go on for a long time. [7:49] I never thought this would be easy. I don't think Trump thought it would be easy. [7:52] It could take a long time. But, again, the threat was there. And the threat was growing. [7:57] And at some point in time, we had to act before we no longer could. That's why I supported with [8:02] President Trump when he made an incredibly difficult decision to finally act. But now we have to finish [8:07] the job. And that may take some time. And it could be complicated. And it could be risky. [8:11] There's no guarantees here. But we could not allow Iran to become a nuclear power, threaten [8:17] the region, threaten the world. [8:18] LISA DESJARDINS- OK, thank you very much for joining us this morning, Senator. Appreciate it. [8:24] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS- Have a good day.