This post originally appeared at https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/tammy-baldwin-iran/

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) once announced that she was “proud” to support President Barack Obama’s disastrous Iran deal, and she opposed sanctions against the terrorist regime.

Her press release at the time is headlined, “U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Statement in Support of Iran Nuclear Agreement.”

That’s her record – taking actions that built Iran’s power – but she’s trying to run from it now that the fruits of those policy choices are becoming clear in a terrible way.

Baldwin announced in the wake of the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel, widely suspected to have been funded by Iran, that she wanted the Biden administration to refreeze the $6 billion it authorized for Iran on, unbelievable, Sept. 11, 2023. Baldwin was nowhere to be found when the money was first unfrozen, of course, and her history on Iran is a weak one.

Baldwin Supported the Iran Deal

At the time, Baldwin said in a press release, “I’m proud that America led six countries toward an historic international agreement with Iran. I believe we are right to choose a path of international diplomacy to achieve our goal of verifiably preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

According to Tablet Magazine, what did the Iran Deal really do? “Barack Obama legalized a terror state’s nuclear weapons program.” Tablet excoriated the “tens of billions of dollars that Obama paid the clerical regime, which included planeloads of cash.”

In 2018, when then President Donald Trump terminated the Iran deal, he said it “enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior, while at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development.”

Businessman Eric Hovde, a possible candidate against her, criticized Baldwin. “Iran would like to destroy our country. They are the biggest supporter of global terrorism,” Hovde said. “They never complied with the requirements of the deal. Money flowed quickly to multiple terrorist groups and the deal blew up in their face. It is unimaginable to think Pres. Biden and Sen. Baldwin supported this second deal.”

Tammy Baldwin Opposed Sanctions Against Iran

The Jewish Telegraph Agency wrote of Baldwin in 2012, “It is indeed true that Baldwin was among a very small number of members of Congress who voted against some major sanctions bills, and she did suggest that the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009 was ‘heavy-handed’ and ‘misguided.’”

The Jewish news outlet noted: “She was one of only 12 members of the House who voted against the bill, which received 412 votes in its favor. (Since launching her Senate campaign (in 2012), Baldwin has voted for other Iran sanctions measures; Politifact Wisconsin called her recent votes in favor of sanctions ‘a major reversal of position.’)”

Baldwin said in 2009 of why she opposed sanctions against Iran:

“I believe such a heavy-handed approach is misguided and will impair the United States’ ability to work with our allies in pursuit of a diplomatic solution in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions. I have serious concerns that cutting off the gasoline supply to Iran will not have any effect on changing the Iranian government’s behavior. Rather, it will hurt the Iranian people, and I fear it will engender a backlash by Iranians against the U.S. — not the Iranian regime.”