NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said Wednesday (April 8) the United States has done what was needed to ensure Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
He reacted to the ceasefire announced Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran.
"It is very good," Cassidy told Fox 8. "President Trump's goals going in were to make sure Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon and then could not deliver that nuclear weapon, and to otherwise degrade their military capabilities.
"They cannot develop a nuclear weapon anytime soon, and they certainly couldn't deliver it. And their military capability has been degraded. We have met our goals."
Iran had reopened the Strait of Hormuz, through which large quantities of oil and other commodities are transported to the global market, but said it reclosed it on Wednesday as Israel continued attacks on alleged Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
That sparked outrage from the U.S., which demanded that Iran reopen the Strait.
"That is completely unacceptable and, again, this is a case of what they're saying publicly is different privately," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. "We have seen an uptick of traffic in the Strait today. And I will reiterate the president's expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately, quickly and safely."
Fox 8 asked Cassidy if he would support Iran being able to assess shipping fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
"I don't think that's a good idea, because that gives them money to rebuild their military capability," he said. "Now, I'm not part of that negotiation. But clearly we want to deny Iran the financial capability to build another nuclear weapon or to build the missiles to deliver it. So, giving that (nation) $2 billion a day or whatever ... I would, that's just not a good idea."
Cassidy said Iran should not be allowed to control the Strait.
"It would be a bad idea. It would be bad for our allies," Cassidy said. "There's like three or four, maybe more, nations which have some border upon that Strait. Those are all our allies except for Iran. To give the Iranians control of the Strait when all of our other allies would pay the price is a really bad idea.
"If you're going to give control to somebody, give it to one of our allies. Or if there's going to be control, spread it among everybody. But don't give it to our sworn enemy."
Congress remains out of session, but this week Rep. Troy Carter, a New Orleans Democrat, said the conflict should not have begun in the first place.
"It should have never been started. Listen, we know that Iran has a very evil regime, a very anti-American regime. But war requires thoughtful processes. War requires that we have a plan to get in and to get out and to have the support of our NATO partners," he said.