Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) said the current state of foreign affairs is a result of the Biden administration's "weakness."
Gimenez appeared on Mornings with Maria Bartiromo to comment on Iran's position amid the conflict between Hamas and Israel. While the Florida representative gave the administration credit for freezing $6 billion of Iranian funds in a South Korean bank after it was previously unfrozen, he said the United States could place more sanctions on Iran to further prevent any of its revenue going toward terrorist activities.
“Yeah, it just shows the incompetency of this particular administration. And it shows the incompetency all the way around," Gimenez said. "The problem is that there has been — we’ve been lax, this administration has been lax on the sanctions, and Iran’s oil revenues have shot, skyrocketed some 70%. That directly funds these kinds of activities: Hamas, Hezbollah. And so we’re seeing the results of weakness, weakness around the world."
Gimenez shared his speculation that Iran is funding Hamas after it fired thousands of rockets and also sent dozens of fighters into Israel almost a week ago on Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday celebrating the annual cycle of the Torah scroll reading. In light of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, around 2,800 have died, among them 27 U.S. citizens. There are also more likely to be among the 150 who were taken hostage.
"And so, Iran is the cancer of the Middle East. We need to take care of Iran. We can’t coddle Iran. We have to get stronger with Iran," Gimenez went on to say. "We have to put in place more sanctions against Iran to really cripple them and cripple their economy, because if we let them go, they’re going to continue to fund these terrorist groups. Their sole aim is the destruction of Israel, and we can never, never let that happen."
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According to Gimenez, it is "not a coincidence" to see Hamas attacking Israel and Russia attacking Ukraine during President Joe Biden's first term in office.
As for himself, the Florida representative fled Cuba, where he was born, when communists began to take over the country. Now he serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the Homeland Security Committee, and the Select Committee on China and is privy to classified information.