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Washington, D.C. — Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul gave the following remarks at a full committee markup of various measures addressing Iran and its terrorist proxies, including his bipartisan resolution, H.Res. 559, declaring it the policy of the United States that a nuclear Iran is not acceptable.

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Remarks as delivered:

Just today, we got a report that three suicide drones were launched at U.S. forces at the al-Tanf garrison in eastern Syria earlier today, and early reports are coming in of a possible drone attack on a U.S. base at the Green Village now as well.

On October 7, Israelis awoke to gunfire, rockets, and explosions surrounding them.

Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists unleashed a brutal terrorist attack that led to the deadliest day in the history of Israel.

At least 1,500 Hamas terrorists broke through the border from Gaza into Israel and brutalized every person they encountered.

Terrorists were kicking in doors, storming houses, and massacring women, children, and [the] elderly.  

At the same time, Hamas launched thousands of rockets into Israel. And as part of their barbaric assault, Hamas kidnapped at least 200 hostages and dragged them back into Gaza.

I spoke with the Israeli Ambassador last week, and he personally told me about some of the horrible war crimes that Hamas committed.

Dozens of babies were murdered. Many were found decapitated and burned.

Holocaust survivors were kidnapped, and 260 people at a music festival were slaughtered.

These ISIS-like atrocities will haunt the world forever.

I’d like to start with a moment of silence as we remember the victims of this massacre in honor of the lives that they lived.

Now, as Israel responds in self-defense, the United States stands strongly with our friend and ally as it protects itself from Iran-backed terrorism.

This is a moment of moral clarity. Hamas has shown us exactly who they are. They have no regard for human life, whether it be young or old, Israeli or Palestinian.

And they have consistently and significantly enabled and been funded by Iran.

As Jake Sullivan noted last week, Iran has been providing funding, training, capabilities, support, engagement, and contact with Hamas for years and years.

And now we are hearing reports of five attempted suicide drone attacks in Syria and Iraq, threatening our troops in the region as we speak.

We need a robust response to this catastrophic war that protects the United States and our allies.

That includes limiting the resources available to our adversaries and bolstering our deterrence against those actively trying to harm us.

That’s why I introduced my bipartisan resolution to state clearly, with no caveats, that it is the policy of the United States that a nuclear Iran is not acceptable.

The resolution states that Iran must not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon under any circumstances. And the United States must use all means necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

I’d like to also talk briefly about my trip to Kibbutz on the border of Israel and Gaza with then-Speaker McCarthy. Just last year, the month prior, they had 4500 rockets fired in. Everyone I met in that village was massacred, slaughtered. And at the daycare center, children I saw were slaughtered, shot to death, beheaded, and burned.

When the press says it didn’t happen, it did. Because I’ve seen the pictures of the burned babies and the decapitated children and the blood in baby cribs. [Hamas] are monsters, and this needs to stop.

Today, we will also consider Brian Mast’s bill to impose sanctions on anyone supporting Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Hamas just committed some of the worst crimes against humanity the world has ever seen. Any support to these war criminals is indefensible.

We will consider, also, Joe Wilson’s bill, the No Paydays for Hostage-Takers Act to deter any future hostage-taking by Iran and other U.S. adversaries.

This bill pushes the administration to impose Levinson Act sanctions on hostage-taking.

It also requires the administration to deny visas for U.N. travel to certain sanctioned Iranian officials and urges the secretary of state to block travel to Iran on U.S. passports.

As Hamas holds over 200 innocent hostages in [Gaza,] we are reminded again of the urgency of protecting Americans from more hostage-taking by Iran.

I want to thank Mike Lawler for his bill, the SHIP Act, to address the significant amount of Iranian oil that is still being shipped and refined around the world.

These oil revenues give Iran a lifeline that is used to fund its support to terrorists and proxies around the world.

[Mr. Lawler’s] bill is a vital tool to cutting off this funding off to Iran.

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