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Excerpts of Remarks to Reporters in Midland, Texas

October 26, 2007

"[I] think the President and Secretary of State and Secretary of Treasury of the United States government made the right decision in increasing the sanctions on Iran. They're important steps in the right direction. I understand that some of the Democrats are criticizing that because somehow I get the feeling that no matter what the President says they would criticize it. But I think all Americans agree that we have to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power … And I think it was the right thing to do, to designate these two organizations terrorist organizations to try to cut off the banks, to try to cut off significant funding, to try to marshal other countries in the world to help us. I think all Americans should be behind this. This will make our world safer if we can keep Iran from being a nuclear power. …

"I think the President has made clear, and I agree with it, that the military option is not off the table. These sanctions do not suggest that at all, but what they do suggest is we would rather find another way to accomplish this. It would be a lot safer. It would be a lot better for all of us. It's the President's desire; it'd be my desire that Iran understand the implications of what they're doing. I think these sanctions are going to make that point very, very clearly. Maybe they'll appeal to other people in Iran other than Ahmadinejad, who appears to be extremely unreasonable, but there have been times in the past where sanctions have worked and times when they haven't, so let's hope this is one of those times where sanctions work. But certainly this is the right course of action to take. But the military option is not off the table and the Iranians should understand that, that America will not allow them to become a nuclear power. Their regime is too irresponsible. The world would be in too much danger."

Rudy Giuliani, Excerpts of Remarks to Reporters in Midland, Texas Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/295680

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