Political Quotes

“I would say that the developments have been--I would not call them dramatic. I would say they are modest in this respect: they are modest in the sense that the United States, for the first time, has decided to join with other countries in making an offer to Iran. The wisdom of that can be debated. What would be dramatic is if Iran would seriously consider doing what is being suggested, and I don't see any indication they are willing to do so nor do I anticipate their willingness to do so. My concern is--and the President has been very clear about this--that Iran is already jockeying around, seeming to extend the time for consideration and drawing this out, certainly, to their advantage. If you are developing a program, and you are actively pursuing developing a capability, the longer you can stall any action by your adversaries to stop you from doing so, buying that time is of great value to Iran. What we are seeing with this development already, Iranians are trying to buy time. The President has said, and I am not sure the other countries have been quite as firm as the United States has--that they have weeks, not months, to make this decision. However, I have seen no indication that the Iranians are anywhere near accepting this proposal. I will make the argument that this is actually a very good time for the Senate to speak and say we see this as a very serious issue, that we need to at this point speak into this very critical juncture.…”