Kamala Harris
Donald Trump
Described President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA as “not only not smart, because so far it was working, but it was also unilateral action, not bringing along and apparently not consulting our allies around the globe who are also invested in the right outcome.”
Noted that, once elected, would seek the renewal of relationships “with probably everyone around the globe,” since Donald Trump “has put us in a position where our neighbors around the world, be they friend or foe, are believing they cannot trust the word of the American president.”
"It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapon. Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. In a few moments I will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating U.S. nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States. America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction and we will not allow a regime that chants “death to America” to gain access to the most deadly weapons on earth."
Interviewer: “Which foreign country do you consider to be America’s greatest adversary?”
Vice President Harris: “I think there is an obvious one in mind which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands. This attack on Israel – 200 ballistic missiles…what we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power, that is one of my highest priorities.”
“If Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets," the U.S. has targeted 52 Iranian sites — "some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”
“On Holocaust Memorial Day, President Trump enacted an executive order that will restrict refugees from Muslim-majority countries. Make no mistake — this is a Muslim ban. We have opened our doors to those fleeing violence and oppression for decades, by presidents on both sides of the aisle. Doing so has helped global stability and made our country stronger. We can't turn our backs on the millions of refugees who are contributing to our country and our economy. During the Holocaust, we failed to let refugees like Anne Frank into our country. We can't let history repeat itself.”
“I will ban refugee resettlement from terror infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban…Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world…We’re not taking them from infested countries.”
“As I have said, I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias. My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering. And let us be clear: Iran is not only a threat to Israel; Iran is also a threat to American personnel in the region, American interests, and innocent civilians across the region who suffer at the hands of Iran-based and -backed terrorist proxies. We will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend U.S. forces and interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. And we will continue to work with our allies and partners to disrupt Iran’s aggressive behavior and hold them accountable.”
“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country — in this case, Iran — that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We are going to blow it to smithereens.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ Running Mate:
“Donald Trump was in office – sometimes we’ll hear revisionist history – but when Donald Trump was in office it was Donald Trump who…we had a coalition of nations that had boxed Iran’s nuclear program in, the inability to advance it. Donald Trump pulled that program and put nothing else in its place. So Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership.”
Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s Running Mate:
“Israel has the right to defend itself, but America’s interest is sometimes going to be distinct. Sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests and sometimes we’re going to have distinct interests. And our interest I think very much is in not going to war with Iran. It would be a huge distraction of resources, it would be massively expensive to our country. And it’s interesting to me when the October 7th thing happened, we have a couple of dear friends who live in Israel — one of my wife’s very good friends she grew up with married an Israeli guy — you know, we’re like worried about our friends. And in the reaction to it, what I noticed is that American pro-Israel people — or people who fashion themselves as pro-Israel — were actually much more militaristic than the Israelis who were living in Israel. Right, the Israelis were like “okay, Hamas just attacked us, we’re gonna go really screw Hamas up.” And, of course, yeah there’s a humanitarian side of that and we want to try to minimize civilian casualties, but you had Americans saying “oh…this attack happened on Putin’s birthday, right, so we need to go to war against Russia and obviously the Iranians funded part of this so we need to go to war with Iran.” We just have to be smarter, right, we have to be smarter. Now, I don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon, and I think we should be like very strongly encouraging the Iranians and using all the influence that we have to encourage them to not have a nuclear weapon. I think nuclear proliferation is just a bad idea. Enough people have nukes. And the more people that have nukes I think the greater the risk of nuclear war. But we just have to be smart about it.”
“Make no mistake, as president, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend American forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists, and I will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon…Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end, but all options are on the table.”
On the possibility of pursuing a deal with Iran with regard to current hostilities: “Iran would have made a deal with us. It would have been a great deal for them. The only thing is they cannot have nuclear weapons, and we would have had it (a deal) because Iran had no money during my administration. They were broke and they would have made a deal, and they would have been happy and they would have had an unbelievable civilization. But it didn’t work out that way because of a thing that was very sad to watch, that was the election…
“Sure, I would do that (a deal)...We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal. And, they would have had a deal…had the results of the election been correct, we would have had a deal within one week after the election. I was prepared to get it done within one week after the election. They (the Biden administration) could have done that too, but they had no idea how to go about it. They could have done it because I gave them a country that wanted to make a deal, they had to.
“There was no money to Hamas, there was no money to Hezbollah, because Iran didn’t have the money. Now Iran has $300 billion, they made it all in the last three and a half years, the sanctions came off.”
On the possibility of an Iranian response to Israel’s October 26 strikes inside Iran: "It would be a mistake…And we are prepared to defend Israel, as we have before. We will again. But the critical point is that there must be a de-escalation in the region. And we are working through diplomatic channels, and other channels, to ensure that there is a de-escalation in the region."
“The problem with what we have with sanctions, and I was a user of sanctions, but I’d put them on and take them off as quickly as possible because ultimately it kills your dollar and it kills everything the dollar represents and we have to continue to have that be the world currency, I think it’s important...I use sanctions very powerfully against countries that deserve it, and then I take them off because look – you’re losing Iran, you’re losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency as you know better than anybody. All of these things happening, you’re losing so many countries because there’s so much conflict with all of these countries that you’re gonna lose that, and we can’t lose that. I want to use sanctions as little as possible.”
“I would like to see Iran be very successful. The only thing is, they can't have a nuclear weapon."
Kamala Harris | Donald Trump |
Described President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA as “not only not smart, because so far it was working, but it was also unilateral action, not bringing along and apparently not consulting our allies around the globe who are also invested in the right outcome.” Noted that, once elected, would seek the renewal of relationships “with probably everyone around the globe,” since Donald Trump “has put us in a position where our neighbors around the world, be they friend or foe, are believing they cannot trust the word of the American president.” | "It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapon. Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. In a few moments I will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating U.S. nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States. America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction and we will not allow a regime that chants “death to America” to gain access to the most deadly weapons on earth." |
Interviewer: “Which foreign country do you consider to be America’s greatest adversary?” Vice President Harris: “I think there is an obvious one in mind which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands. This attack on Israel – 200 ballistic missiles…what we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power, that is one of my highest priorities.” | “If Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets," the U.S. has targeted 52 Iranian sites — "some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.” |
“On Holocaust Memorial Day, President Trump enacted an executive order that will restrict refugees from Muslim-majority countries. Make no mistake — this is a Muslim ban. We have opened our doors to those fleeing violence and oppression for decades, by presidents on both sides of the aisle. Doing so has helped global stability and made our country stronger. We can't turn our backs on the millions of refugees who are contributing to our country and our economy. During the Holocaust, we failed to let refugees like Anne Frank into our country. We can't let history repeat itself.” | “I will ban refugee resettlement from terror infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban…Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world…We’re not taking them from infested countries.” |
“As I have said, I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias. My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering. And let us be clear: Iran is not only a threat to Israel; Iran is also a threat to American personnel in the region, American interests, and innocent civilians across the region who suffer at the hands of Iran-based and -backed terrorist proxies. We will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend U.S. forces and interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. And we will continue to work with our allies and partners to disrupt Iran’s aggressive behavior and hold them accountable.” | “If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country — in this case, Iran — that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We are going to blow it to smithereens.” |
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ Running Mate: “Donald Trump was in office – sometimes we’ll hear revisionist history – but when Donald Trump was in office it was Donald Trump who…we had a coalition of nations that had boxed Iran’s nuclear program in, the inability to advance it. Donald Trump pulled that program and put nothing else in its place. So Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership.” | Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s Running Mate: “Israel has the right to defend itself, but America’s interest is sometimes going to be distinct. Sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests and sometimes we’re going to have distinct interests. And our interest I think very much is in not going to war with Iran. It would be a huge distraction of resources, it would be massively expensive to our country. And it’s interesting to me when the October 7th thing happened, we have a couple of dear friends who live in Israel — one of my wife’s very good friends she grew up with married an Israeli guy — you know, we’re like worried about our friends. And in the reaction to it, what I noticed is that American pro-Israel people — or people who fashion themselves as pro-Israel — were actually much more militaristic than the Israelis who were living in Israel. Right, the Israelis were like “okay, Hamas just attacked us, we’re gonna go really screw Hamas up.” And, of course, yeah there’s a humanitarian side of that and we want to try to minimize civilian casualties, but you had Americans saying “oh…this attack happened on Putin’s birthday, right, so we need to go to war against Russia and obviously the Iranians funded part of this so we need to go to war with Iran.” We just have to be smarter, right, we have to be smarter. Now, I don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon, and I think we should be like very strongly encouraging the Iranians and using all the influence that we have to encourage them to not have a nuclear weapon. I think nuclear proliferation is just a bad idea. Enough people have nukes. And the more people that have nukes I think the greater the risk of nuclear war. But we just have to be smart about it.” |
“Make no mistake, as president, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend American forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists, and I will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon…Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end, but all options are on the table.” | On the possibility of pursuing a deal with Iran with regard to current hostilities: “Iran would have made a deal with us. It would have been a great deal for them. The only thing is they cannot have nuclear weapons, and we would have had it (a deal) because Iran had no money during my administration. They were broke and they would have made a deal, and they would have been happy and they would have had an unbelievable civilization. But it didn’t work out that way because of a thing that was very sad to watch, that was the election… |
On the possibility of an Iranian response to Israel’s October 26 strikes inside Iran: "It would be a mistake…And we are prepared to defend Israel, as we have before. We will again. But the critical point is that there must be a de-escalation in the region. And we are working through diplomatic channels, and other channels, to ensure that there is a de-escalation in the region." | “The problem with what we have with sanctions, and I was a user of sanctions, but I’d put them on and take them off as quickly as possible because ultimately it kills your dollar and it kills everything the dollar represents and we have to continue to have that be the world currency, I think it’s important...I use sanctions very powerfully against countries that deserve it, and then I take them off because look – you’re losing Iran, you’re losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency as you know better than anybody. All of these things happening, you’re losing so many countries because there’s so much conflict with all of these countries that you’re gonna lose that, and we can’t lose that. I want to use sanctions as little as possible.” |
“I would like to see Iran be very successful. The only thing is, they can't have a nuclear weapon." |