Rep. Jason Chaffetz told CNN Monday he would favor taking pre-emptive action against Iran's nuclear program rather than the negotiation process of the Obama administration.
Appearing Monday on CNN's
"The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," the Utah Republican got into a spirited discussion with Blitzer over Democrats who plan to boycott a speech on Iran by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Chaffetz said critics should "get over it," and that the issues he will be discussing are important.
"The biggest problem that we have on the face of the planet is Iran getting a nuclear weapon," Chaffetz said. "We have to do anything and everything we can do in our powers to make sure that that doesn't happen."
Blitzer asked if that meant he supports a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Absolutely," Chaffetz said. "We negotiate from a position of strength, Wolf. We do not do this through appeasement and bickering about what time the speaker called the president to say that Benjamin Netanyahu is going to show up. That is a distraction."
"So you think the U.S. should basically say to Iran right now, either completely open up, stop all of your nuclear programs, or the United States is going to launch a pre-emptive strike?" Blitzer asked.
"If it was up to me, if I was the president of the United States, I would take out that threat," Chaffetz said.
The congressman said he doesn't believe U.S./Israeli relations will be hurt over the partisan flap on how Netanyahu was invited. Republican House Speaker John Boehner asked the prime minister to address Congress without consulting Democratic leaders or the White House.
As a result, more than 50 Democrats have said they won't attend the Tuesday morning speech,
The Hill reports.
"Get over it. Get over it. He's going to come here and speak to the joint session of Congress," Chaffetz said. "There are 535 members between the House and the Senate. So yeah, you have a couple that are not going to show up...."
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