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Supports range of options, including military option
And every option must remain on the table. Military action isn’t our preference. It remains, as it always must, the last option. We have some way to go diplomatically before we need to contemplate other measures. But it is a simple observation of reality that there is only one thing worse than a military solution, and that, my friends, is a nuclear armed Iran. The regime must understand that it cannot win a showdown with the world.
-John McCain, Speech to Christians United for Israel, July 17, 2007
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I keep praying every night that we will avoid a conflict with Iran…I don't think it's inevitable that we're in a conflict with Iran…I still say there's only one thing worse than military action against Iran and that is a nuclear-armed Iran.
-John McCain, quoted by Liz Sidoti, "McCain Says He Prays for No War with Iran," Associated Press, October 16, 2007
Supports sanctions and divestment
UN Security Council action is required to impose progressively tougher political and economic sanctions. Should the Security Council continue to drag its feet, the U.S. must lead a group of like-minded countries in imposing multilateral sanctions outside the UN framework. Iran's need to import refined gasoline, to cite one example, suggests an important vulnerability. And countries such as China and Malaysia, which have signed deals to develop Iranian gas fields, and Russia, which provides weapons systems to Tehran, should know that Iran will be a critical element in American's bilateral relations with each nation. In the meantime, the U.S. should immediately investigate whether any of these deals violate the terms of last year’s Iran Freedom Support Act.
The U.S. should also privatize the sanctions effort by launching a disinvestment campaign. By persuading individuals, pension funds, and financial institutions to divest from companies doing business with Iran, we can isolate and delegitimize a hostile government. We will also, as we did with the South Africa disinvestment campaign, increase the debate inside the country about whether the present course serves the interests of the Iranian people or merely those of a misguided elite. Americans and all proponents of freedom need to reassure the millions of Iranians who aspire to self-determination that we support their longing for freedom and democracy.
-John McCain, Speech to Christians United for Israel, July 17, 2007
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What I would be concentrating my efforts on is trying to get a league of democracies outside of the U.N., because Russia and China are going to veto just about anything we want to act effectively against Iran, and those league of democracies should cut off any kind of loans, which are being extended as we speak by European banks; diplomatic, other sanctions to put real pressure on a rather fragile economy in Iran. I think that's the way we should pursue this.
-John McCain, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, September 17, 2007
Supports consulting Congress prior to a military strike
If the situation is that it requires immediate action to ensure the security of the United States of America, that's what you take your oath to do when you're inaugurated as president of the United States. If it's a long series of build-ups, where the threat becomes greater and greater, of course you want to go to Congress. ... I would at minimum consult with the leaders of Congress because there may become a time where you need the approval of Congress.
-John McCain, Republican Presidential Debate, Dearborn, MI, October 9, 2007
Opposes direct negotiations
McCain used Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an example, saying, “Are we going to come out of this meeting, and the president of Iran is going to say, ‘I'm stopping the IEDs, I'm going to stop developing nuclear weapons, I will agree that Israel is going to exist,’ then fine. Then lets set up the meeting.” But he warned of the danger posed to the prestige of the presidency and the country as a whole if such a dictator would use a high-level meeting for propaganda purposes…
Said McCain in conclusion: “There's a downside to just saying, I'll sit down and have face-to-face meetings with one of these dictatorial rulers, who violate every principle of upon which this nation was founded.”
-Mark Murray, McCain Also Agrees with Clinton, MSNBC's First Read, July 26, 2007
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John McCain believes Syria and Iran have aided and abetted the violence in Iraq for too long...The answer is not to enter into unconditional dialogues with these two dictatorships from a position of weakness. The answer is for the international community to apply real pressure to Syria and Iran to change their behavior. The United States must also bolster its regional military posture to make clear to Iran our determination to protect our forces in Iraq and to deter Iranian intervention in that country.
-McCain Campaign Website, Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Supports U.S. missile defense in Europe to counter Iran’s missile tests
Iran’s most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel. Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran’s continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous ambitions. Iran’s missile tests also demonstrate the need for effective missile defense now and in the future, and this includes missile defense in Europe as is planned with the CzechRepublic and Poland.
-John McCain, McCain Statement on Iran Missile Launch, Time’s The Page, July 9, 2008
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This kind of testing and this kind of progress that the Iranians are making is here and now, and it cries out for collective action to cut off now the lines of credit that the Iranians are getting, to cut off now the trade and diplomatic and other activities that go on between the Iranians and the world… we’re in a situation where we need to act now and say hey, we can’t wait, we can’t say let’s just wait until next January to take meaningful action.
-John McCain, McCain Reacts to Iran Missile Test on NBC, Time’s The Page, July 9, 2008
Response to Strait of Hormuz incident
Maybe the Iranians think we're weaker because of the NIE. Maybe the Iranians aren't really slowing their export of most lethal explosive devices into Iraq. And I believe the president of the United States made the right statement. He told them that we will preserve the fundamental principle of freedom of the sea, and he will do what's necessary in order to preserve it. So I believe these people -- these commanding officers made the right decision, and I believe that we entrusted their ships and the lives of the people under them in the most appropriate fashion. But don't think that this wasn't a serious situation of the utmost seriousness in one of the most important waterways in the world, because of so much of the world's oil goes through there. The Iranians better understand that the United States will stick to its many years-long tradition of preserving the fundamental principle of freedom of the seas.
-John McCain, Republican Presidential Debate, January 10, 2008
Supports the designation of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization
The fact is, this is a terrorist organization, and it should have been branded as such.
-John McCain, Pool Report of McCain Tour of Pennsylvania Coal Silo, Time’s The Page, July 9, 2008
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