Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), alongside Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), introduced a bill today that would authorize the U.S. President to utilize a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or a so-called “bunker buster” bomb, to destroy Iranian nuclear infrastructure in the event of a threat to Israel.
“Iran and its terrorist proxies across the region must never be able to threaten the U.S. or Israel with a nuclear weapon,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “Truly, there should be nothing partisan about our national security, nor our relationship with our ally Israel.”
The Vienna negotiations, a series of talks with the goal of restoring the 2015 nuclear deal that President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of in 2018, are currently underway, and Gottheimer and Mast said in their press release that the negotiations are “nearing conclusion.”
But Gottheimer expressed skepticism of Iran’s intentions towards Israel once parts of the nuclear deal come to an end.
“We must prepare for the serious threat of a nuclear-armed Iran when key provisions of the deal expire,” he said. “That’s why I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan bill to defend Israel from Iran and Hezbollah, and reinforce our ally’s qualitative military edge in the region with ‘bunker buster’ munitions.”
While support for Israel has a bipartisan consensus in Washington – all 12 U.S. Representatives from New Jersey voted in favor of Israeli defense funding last year, for example – Gottheimer has been especially vocal about his views, including making them a centerpiece of his renomination campaign in 2020.
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February 11, 2019 -
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