Rubio says he would 'absolutely' re-impose sanctions on Iran

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Special Report: Rubio talks sanctions on Iran

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) takes the center seat the “Special Report” to discuss the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing where members of Congress questioned Secretary of State John Kerry on the Iran nuclear agreement.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, told viewers Thursday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that he would “absolutely” re-impose sanctions on Iran immediately, if elected.

Baier asked Rubio if he would be willing to re-impose U.S. sanctions against Iran by negating what the senator called a “national security waiver” directed by President Obama.

“Absolutely, and I said so today at the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee] hearing,” Rubio said.

As Congress continues its 60-day review, President Barack Obama has promised to veto any vote against the deal.

“The U.S. sanctions, the American sanctions on Iran, are in our laws. They are laws passed by Congress, although he tried to undermine those sanctions and object it to them.”

“These are still in place but what the president is using is a national security waiver. He’s in essence saying I’m using this waiver to prevent these sanctions from still being imposed. The next president could just lift that, with the stroke of a pen, lift that waiver and immediately re-impose sanctions,”

“You can do that on day one in the first hour of your presidency, in the first week of your presidency,” Rubio said.

“The centrifuges that [Iran has] now are quite frankly ancient,” Rubio said in response to Sen. Bob Corker’s, R-Tenn., comments during the hearing that these same centrifuges were “antiques.”

“They now have less of [the centrifuges], but the ones they’re going to have are going to be better and be able to expand that capability for years to come. The other [issue] is this down payment: this immediate signing bonus that you get. The administration said today [it] would be about 50 billion dollars and they think this money is going to be spent to rebuild the Iranian economy, but in fact nothing in Iran’s track record suggests that.”