Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum took a break from a busy Super Tuesday to address the last morning of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, where he promised that he would issue a strict ultimatum to Iran with consequences.
“As you know, this is a somewhat important day in my life today,” Santorum quipped. “I wanted to come off the campaign trail to come here.”
He said he has “grave concern” about the leadership of the country, not just Israel.
“I’ve seen a president who has been reticent,” Santorum said. “He says he has Israel’s back; from everything I’ve seen from this administration, he has turned his back on the Israeli people.”
Listening to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech as compared to President Obama’s Sunday address , he said, showed “there is a clear and unfortunate — tragic — disconnect” between the two leaders on confronting a nuclear Iran.
As president, Santorum said he would “set forth a clear ultimatum” with the Islamic Republic. That would be ceasing all production activities and fully opening facilities to inspectors to dismantle the program, he said.
If the conditions are not met, the former Pennsylvania senator said, “if Israel does not tear down those facilities, we will tear them down ourselves.”
“This is not bellicosity and warmongering,” he said. “This is preventing the most radical regime in the world from having a weapon.”
“Let’s be honest with the American public about who these radical Islamists are,” Santorum stressed. “These are radical theocrats who don’t just want to destroy the state of Israel.”
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