John Boehner: U.S. Needs To Stop Iran

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner says the U.S. needs to do more to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The Ohio Republican said the Iran Sanctions Act approved by Congress gives President Barack Obama several options for pressuring Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. He said Obama has used some of those tools but that others are also available.

He did not specify what actions he believes the U.S. should take, but said he agrees with Obama that all options should be considered – a phrase that is often used to threaten military action.

Iran denies that it is developing nuclear weapons.

Boehner made his remarks a day after Iran said it might soon halt its shipments of oil to European nations and said it has progressed in developing nuclear fuel.

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Comments

[Rich914]

08:57 AM on 02/17/2012

No one doubts Iran's intention to obtain nuclear weapons. No one doubted Saddam Hussein's intentions to stockpile biological weapons, which he had used against the Kurds and Iran in the past, few doubted WMD premise for US invasion of Iraq, although some did not agree that WMD threat justified the invasion. Like Iraq's Hussein, Iran is either developing nukes, or like the bank robber with a handkerchief draped over his extended index finger, poses a sufficiently convincing threat, that preventive action may be warranted, just like when the cop shoots the unarmed robber with a handkerchief over his hand. Iran could easily avoid the entire confrontation by permitting inspectors to audit and evaluate its facilities. Hussein in Irad could have done the same, but preferred the reagion and the world to fear him and apprehend his weapon assets, whether he had them or not. Reagan said trust but verify. Iran can't be trusted, because it refuses to verify. The robber holding a handkercheif either does or doesn't have a gun. He gets shot either way.

[Harry Scrote]

10:25 AM on 02/17/2012

Dude, where were the W M Ds?

[patters85]

07:51 AM on 02/17/2012

John Boehner is a tool. He has no clue about what is right. Go back to your hole, rat. Let Obama continue to do the heavy lifting. As always.

[sviolette]

06:15 AM on 02/17/2012

Get a law passed in congress John and we'll see if it will do any good. Instead of running your mouth try running congress the way a speaker is supposed to. Get some laws passed. BTW where are all of those jobs you were promising more than a year ago?

[l78lancer]

04:20 AM on 02/17/2012

The GOP in congress just received a prototype of this new thing in A-G-R-E-E-M-E-N-T.

It looks like Boehner is taking it for a test drive.

[SamEasy]

11:34 PM on 02/16/2012

Boner agrees on one thing with Obama,..............being dark skinned is the in-thing these days.

[trron9]

10:58 PM on 02/16/2012

Mr. Boehner, although the President may have other tools in his belt to pressure Iran to abandon there nuclear ambitions, if you use all the tools at once what do you have left? A good card player never overplays his hand!

[Daniel Alman]

10:35 PM on 02/16/2012

Agreed.

[ILoveMyCoffee]

10:31 PM on 02/16/2012

In the not so distant past, Iran wasn't even a global threat. Why? Because Iraq and someone named Saddam Hussein, with all his faults, managed to keep it in check. For 23 years Iraq and Iran kept each other in check. And then in 2003, there was an invasion in Iraq. The government fell, opening up a power vacuum in the Middle East which one country took greedily. Now, Iran is a very big global threat. Speaker Boehner, you and several other Republicans AND Democrats voted for that invasion that brought Iran to power. Yet another reason why the Iraq War was unjustified. So all of you be quiet.

[SPacific]

12:49 AM on 02/17/2012

You can thank G W Bush for making Iran the major player in the Mid-East......

[opiniongirl18]

06:40 AM on 02/17/2012

the american people can thank bush boy for lots of thigs that were played in is 8 longs years of crime

[ILoveMyCoffee]

02:07 PM on 02/17/2012

It is Bush's fault for advocating it, there's no question about that.

[twain307]

09:37 PM on 02/16/2012

Guessed wrong. Thought the one thing Boehner and Obama agreed on is that Cantor is a tool.

[Janzee12000]

09:03 PM on 02/16/2012

Well, Johnny B. , it's gonna take more than just saying "no"...

[Blogengeezer]

08:46 PM on 02/16/2012

WAR and ....'Everyone'... working long, self sacrificial shifts, pulled FDR out of his self prolonging economic Sargasso Sea. WAR, from a defeated bankrupt nation, created the German War Machine rightly feared by it's European neighbors. 'Everyone' was Forced (millions under deadly slavery) to 'Work', to combat defeat.. WAR (on the productive agriculture base of Rhodesia) fueled Robert Mugabe's internationally 'Progressive' touted rise to power. WAR has always been mankind's answer, to divert attention from Failed policy.

I see numerous Political reasons presently rising out of the depths of self mandated despair, for another global conflict, none of which is related to collective society's desire for aggression. How does an all too obvious, purposely bankrupted nation, now pay for the required massive increase in necessary productivity? is the other question..

[houseafire]

08:45 PM on 02/16/2012

Is Ohio actually going to re-elect this clown?

Oh yea...I forgot, we're taking about Ohio...of course they are and all the rest of their little teapublicans politicians....just don't bother crying about what ya get this election.

[ILoveMyCoffee]

10:27 PM on 02/16/2012

He practically grew up in the district. Everyone probably knows him and his family. Plus it is the most gerrymandered seat in Ohio so he will never lose until he resigns.

[Ruthless1]

08:13 PM on 02/16/2012

With our new war economy we need the next war to keep the economy going. All the private military contractors have bills to pay. If we do not use our capabilities why have them. I not for war of any kind, but that is not the way things appear to be working these days. The best way to reduce the National debt is to stop fighting wars that are financed on debt.

[ejrayh]

07:25 PM on 02/16/2012

Lay off, John. President Obama has enough problems without staying awake nights worrying because you agree with him on something.

[dmbraddy]

07:12 PM on 02/16/2012

There is a very strong case to be made that Iran is attempting to produce nuclear weapons. However, it is entirely circumstantial. The hard facts that we have are consistent with Iran's claim that they are only pursuing a peaceful nuclear energy program, not a nuclear arsenal. Personally, I don't believe them, but I also remember the WMD's we were sure that Iraq had. And didn't. Frustrating as it is, unless further intelligence proves Iran is trying to build a bomb, negotiations and economic sanctions are the best approach.

[The ORF in Largo]

11:50 PM on 02/16/2012

Let the MIC fund and staff their own wars and take all their Congressional chick hawks with them

[exhale09]

09:12 AM on 02/17/2012

You are so right. Iran's hubris reminds me of Saddam Hussein's hubris about the WMD'S he DIDN'T actually have, before we invaded Iraq.

Iran and Iraq were mortal enemies, and even though Saddam was a pig, the US had supported him for many long years, by supplying him with weapons, btw... because he held "Iran" in check, and even though Saddam had been forced to destroy all his "WMD'S" in the '90's, he HAD to "claim" he still had them to keep Iran at bay.

Not to debate here about whether or not the US did know Iraq really did "not" have WMD'S when Bush so stupidly invaded Iraq...but all things considered when you connect ALL the dots from a couple decades of our relationship with Iraq, I believe we knew, and most of the evidence showed "we knew"
But G W Bush had a "family" vendetta to carry out, and our Cheney neo-con Chicken Hawks and their private Halliburton, Blackwater Inc. and Oil Corporation buddies saw "billions of $ to be made" by invading Iraq....which they DID make.

Since Iran's Government is dispised by many of it's Middle Eastern neighboring Countries, the US, Israel etc. Iran may very well be engaging in the same hubris bluff that Saddam Hussein engaged in for the same reasons.

Which is why we have to be VERY careful to avoid another attack and invasion of another Country "MISTAKE"

That's what I think anyway.

[The ORF in Largo]

12:18 PM on 02/17/2012

Totally agree