Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, a Texas congressman, slammed U.S. sanctions against Iran during an appearance on Fox News’s “On the Record” Monday night.
“I voted against them and I think they’re terrible and I think it’s going to hurt the people who are trying to overthrow Ahmadinejad. People, when they’re attacked from the outside and made to hurt, become more nationalistic,” Mr. Paul told Greta Van Susteren.
The U.S. deployed new sanctions against Iran Monday, according to an executive order from President Barack Obama. Mr. Obama’s executive order froze all Iranian assets held or traded in the United States.
The U.S. Treasury Department called the executive order a sign of the “administration’s resolve to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its failure to meet its international obligations.”
Mr. Paul also defended himself against those who disagree with his foreign policy views. “People who don’t like my foreign policy say, ‘Oh, he’s an isolationist.’ People who put on sanctions are the isolationists,” the Texas congressman argued.
The former Air Force surgeon was asked how he would deal with Iran, given the limited number of options that are available to a U.S. president. “I think what we should do is let Israel deal with it. They have hundreds of nuclear missiles. They took care of Iraq’s nuclear power plant back in the ’80s. I defended them for it,” Mr. Paul professed.
Mr. Paul has been widely-criticized for his foreign policy views, but continues to espouse his non-interventionist views at Republican debates, campaign stops and interviews.
“This idea that we have to automatically go to war and start a war against Iran, it’s crazy,” Mr. Paul added.
