Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) denounced the policies and rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the current Iranian regime at a rally outside of the United Nations.

The following are his remarks, as prepared:

“Once again, President Ahmadinejad has come to the United Nations to spout duplicitous and anti-Semitic propaganda before a world stage. We must join together to continue to denounce his regime’s odious policies of illegal nuclear proliferation, hatemongering, and malevolent disregard for the outside world.

“I have proudly supported the House’s efforts to step up sanctions against Iran and I believe we must continue to push the Iranian government to abandon all efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. And we must not tolerate the continued flouting of sanctions by companies engaged in commerce with Iran – there is no excuse for doing business with a tyrannical regime.

“We all know that the prospect of an Iranian state armed with nuclear weapons is simply intolerable for the world. It poses an existential threat to our ally Israel. It poses a threat of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It poses the threat that this regime might give nuclear weapons to a terrorist group like al-Qaeda to use we can only guess where.

“Some people say we coexisted with a nuclear Soviet Union for 50 years. ‘We deterred them, deterrence works.’ But deterrence cannot work when you are talking about a fanatically religious government. Everyone knows you cannot reason with, or deter, a suicide bomber.

“So we must prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. And we must use strong sanctions and every weapon in our diplomatic arsenal to do so.

“For eight years, the Bush administration pursued a policy of talk tough and carry a toothpick. They talked tough but stopped nothing, and for eight years the centrifuges increased and increased in number and went round and round, and we came closer and closer to a nuclear Iran.

“Now we have an administration that comes in with a policy of big sticks and big carrots and says first we will engage the Iranians. We will show them the economic and political advantages of avoiding a nuclear status. And if Iran refuses to take the carrot, then they will be met with the stick. We will pursue tougher sanctions, urge the rest of the world to follow our lead, and punish Iran for putting the whole world in jeopardy with their dangerous gamesmanship. Hopefully, that will work. If it does not, G-d help us all. For we all know that nothing is off the table and every alternative will be considered.

“But we are not yet at that point, and we must continue to demand peacefully, yet forcefully, that Iran abandon its nuclear program. And that is why we are here today – to denounce the government of Iran for its hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions and to remind the whole world of the threat Iran poses to peace and security for us all. Thank you.”