During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) spoke about France's support for UN sanctions on Iran.
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00:00Let's see. Senator Scott. Thank you, Chairman. Well, first off, congratulations. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Senator Scott. Senator Ricketts was next. I apologize. Just wasn't paying attention to the list. I told you. And I forgot. Anyway. Well, hey, first of all, thank you to all of our nominees here for your willingness to serve our great nation. And I want to especially thank your families because they will serve alongside you and make it possible for you to be able to serve our country.
00:28So thank you very much to the families who are willing to sacrifice along with our nominees here. Mr. Kershaw, I'm going to start with you because, again, we've talked about how important the relationship with France is. And, you know, there's been a recent United Nations report confirmed that Iran now possesses enough 60 percent enriched uranium to produce six nuclear warheads.
00:49This escalates the threat beyond the U.S. and Israel, posing a direct risk to our allies across the Middle East and Europe.
00:56This enrichment defies U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which is originally codified in JCPOA.
01:05I applaud President Trump's decisive move to reimpose maximum pressure on Iran, as well as entering into negotiations with Iran on a nuclear deal.
01:14However, the credibility and strength of these talks hinge on the United States entering with room with maximum leverage, entering the room with maximum leverage.
01:24That's why I've introduced a resolution backed by 18 of my colleagues urging the E3 to trigger the snapback of U.N. sanctions before the October deadline.
01:33The French have supported the snapback of sanctions but has stated that it's contingent on reaching a nuclear deal.
01:40Mr. Kushner, do you believe that restoring U.N. sanctions would give President Trump a stronger hand in confronting the Iranian regime?
01:49Without a doubt, it would.
01:51And why the French have not used that snapback to date is a mystery to me because I would think that they would have used it.
01:59I'm not sure if they don't have the will or the desire, whatever it may be, but I will be pushing that because I think that should be exercised and it expires within months.
02:09So the fact that they have that right and have not used it is a shame.
02:14I think we should be standing up and really lobbying very, very hard for them to exercise it.
02:20And I think maximum sanctions is there's very I think President Trump really has this issue and it's not it's either going to be negotiated, no nuclear or it's going to have to be an alternative of military.
02:34And I think President Trump has made that clear.
02:37So I think maximum protect maximum leverage on the Iranians.
02:42I think France and America are total are in total agreement on that.
02:46Well, Mr. Kushner, that really hardens me to hear you say that because I agree with you 100 percent.
02:51You know, during the first Trump administration, we saw that because of those sanctions, the Trump administration was able to bring Iranian foreign reserves down from 122 and a half billion dollars to under 14 billion dollars.
03:04And that cut off their ability to be able to fund the terrorism that we see around the world and continue to put pressure on the way the Trump administration has is important.
03:13You know, my colleague here, Mr. McCormick, was talking about the Indo-Pacific and that is an emerging area of key threat from communist China.
03:22And he mentioned about he talked a little bit about France's role there as well.
03:27It's home to one point six million French citizens, live across seven overseas territories and over nine million square kilometers of French exclusive economic zone.
03:37Recognizing this, France became the first European country to adopt an Indo-Pacific strategy in 2019.
03:43And through the strategy, France has participated in the freedom of navigation exercises that we're talking about through the Taiwan Strait.
03:48But, you know, we've seen communist China being incredibly aggressive with their illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive practices in especially relating to our allies of the Philippines and especially Taiwan as well.
04:03I authored the Bolster Act to encourage European engagement in support of Taiwan's security with one of the largest militaries in Europe and naval forces as well.
04:14Extending their presence to this reason, France could really play a great role.
04:18Can you talk about how can you work with France to get them to better support Taiwan and the relationship there, given its leadership and, you know, France's leadership in the Indo-Pacific?
04:30I think France recognizes the same thing that America recognizes what a threat China is to the world.
04:38I don't think there's daylight between them in terms of assessing them as their capability and their infiltration and stealing technology and all the other things and devaluing currency and robbing us on trade.
04:53So I think France and America are very aligned.
04:56It's just that France has to step up to be more aggressive like America is now stepping up to be more aggressive.
05:01And I see it as my job as a future ambassador to meet with the officials and apply that pressure, knowing that they should be more in step lock with the American policy.
05:12So I'm all for your proposal and I'm all for supporting it.
05:16Great.
05:17Well, thank you very much.
05:18And being a cheerleader for it.
05:19All right.
05:19Great.
05:19Well, thank you very much, Mr. Kirshner.
05:20And again, I hope that once you're confirmed as ambassador, that you'll work with whoever is in leadership in France, whether it's President Macron or somebody else, to remember that even though we certainly respect France as having their own policies and, you know, and wanting to have the independence from the United States that they deserve as a sovereign nation,
05:43that we work better together as a team, and that especially when we're confronting communist China, this is the single biggest threat that we've faced internationally.
05:53But it's not just a threat to the United States.
05:54It's a threat to France and all the other freedom-loving countries in the world because Xi Jinping is a dictator who's bent on world domination.
06:03And, you know, for France to go a separate way from the United States would undermine our collective security.
06:08So I hope you'll emphasize that when you get there.
06:11Well said, Senator Ricketts.
06:13Well said.