{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=E65C2AF4-3541-463F-B9BD-63CDB4180602", "Effective Deterrence Against Iran-Backed Terror Requires Both Capabilities and Credibility", "2023-11-07", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Iran:\n\n\u201cForty-four years ago last week, shock troops chanting \u2018Death to America\u2019 and \u2018Death to Israel\u2019 led Iranian revolutionaries across Tehran, overran the U.S. embassy, and took 66 Americans hostage for 444 days.\n\n\u201cIran\u2019s war against America, the Great Satan, and Israel, the Little Satan, has continued ever since.\n\n\u201cThe regime has supported Shi\u2019a terrorists, Sunni terrorists, and secular terrorists. It\u2019s underwritten violence across the world:\n\n\u201cFrom the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut\u2026 to the 1992 Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires\u2026 to the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia\u2026 to the hundreds of attacks, masterminded by Qassem Soleimani, on U.S. forces in Iraq.\n\n\u201cTehran has invested its time and resources into cultivating the terrorists of Hizballah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.\n\n\u201cThe Iranian regime bears responsibility for their savagery. And it\u2019s also responsible for more than a hundred attacks on U.S. personnel and interests in Iraq and Syria just since President Biden took office.\n\n\u201cThese attacks have spiked since October 7th. Two weeks ago, an Iranian-made suicide drone hit a U.S. military barracks in Iraq. Thankfully, the drone\u2019s explosive payload failed to detonate.\n\n\u201cBut the message it sent about the state of President Biden\u2019s deterrence of the world\u2019s largest state sponsor of terrorism was as clear as day.\n\n\u201cIn recent weeks, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted at least another 38 times with lethal force. And more than 40 servicemembers have been injured.\n\n\u201cLet me say that again: Iran-backed terrorists have attacked U.S. forces at least 38 times since October 7th.\n\n\u201cU.S. personnel are, of course, not the only targets of the Iranian war on Western influence in the Middle East. America\u2019s Arab allies have endured repeated attacks, as well.\n\n\u201cThis ongoing siege is not the behavior of an adversary that is being effectively deterred. And how we got here is no mystery.\n\n\u201cWhen the Biden Administration took office, it rushed to restore a failed nuclear agreement with an Iranian regime that had long since proven it wasn\u2019t to be trusted.\n\n\u201cWhen Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed three people at an airport in the United Arab Emirates and aimed two ballistic missiles at its capital last year, the Administration responded with silence.\n\n\u201cAnd in response to the latest wave of attacks on U.S. forces, the President authorized a strike on an ammunition facility. His Secretary of State felt compelled to reiterate that, \u2018We are not looking for conflict with Iran.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo clearly, Iran is looking for conflict with us. The Iranian regime is working hard to kill Americans, undermine our influence, and sow chaos among our allies. And so far, you would have to say they\u2019re succeeding.\n\n\u201cHamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad perpetrated the deadliest day of violence against Jews since the Holocaust. Hizballah stands ready \u2013 at Iran\u2019s behest \u2013 to escalate this conflict into a two-front war. And years of careful progress toward normalized relations between Israel and more of its Arab neighbors has been stalled.\n\n\u201cDemanding that Israel cease fire against Hamas would lock in these gains for Iran. It would grant amnesty for both the terrorists and their sponsors.\n\n\u201cWe have a responsibility to reject these demands. Not just on behalf of our ally, Israel, but because amnesty for terrorists would embolden the Iran-backed threats to U.S. interests in the region.\n\n\u201cAs I\u2019ve said before, effective deterrence requires both capabilities and credibility. It requires that a global superpower actually act like one.\n\n\u201cIn practical terms, deterring Iran and its web of terrorists means meeting attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria with swift, lethal, and overwhelming military force. It means working with allies to deploy crippling economic sanctions and inhibit Iran\u2019s support for terror.\n\n\u201cAnd it means finally taking the advice I offered President Biden when he took office: Set aside the failed nuclear deal, work with Republicans, and build an Iran policy that can endure long after he leaves office.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=E65C2AF4-3541-463F-B9BD-63CDB4180602"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1616159938275814, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}