Barack Obama
Democratic Incumbent
In a 2009 speech in Prague, Obama outlined a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. In April 2010, the Obama administration issued a Nuclear Posture Review Report that included a pledge not to use nuclear weapons against any country in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It also included a commitment to maintain its current weapons, and not to build new ones.
Obama spoke at the Nuclear Security Summit in April 2010 in Washington, DC, urging greater cooperation in working against nuclear terrorism, which he called "one of the most challenging threats to international security." In April 2010, he signed the New START Treaty with Russia--ratified in February 2011--reducing the two countries' nuclear stockpiles. In November 2011, following the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program, the Obama administration signed the Iran Sanctions Act into law, tightening restrictions on the country's petrochemical, oil, and gas sectors.
Ron Paul
Republican Candidate
Rep. Paul (R-TX) regards U.S. policies on nuclear proliferation as hypocritical. "If countries do have a nuclear weapon, they tend to be left alone, or possibly get a subsidy, but if they do not gain such a weapon then we threaten them," Paul wrote in December 2007. On Iran, Paul suggests free trade and "using diplomacy rather than threats and hostility." He says that the "unintended consequences of our confrontational policies toward Iran may be to actually encourage them to seek nuclear weapons capabilities."
During an August 2011 Republican debate in Iowa, Paul advocated diplomacy with Iran, while noting that Iran is surrounded by nuclear countries--China, India, Pakistan, and Israel. "Why wouldn't it be natural that they might want a weapon?" he posited. In his book, Liberty Defined, Paul writes that the "UN can labor tirelessly in 'controlling' one nuclear weapon that doesn't exist [in Iran] while the international community does not put pressure on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Mitt Romney
Republican Candidate
Romney opposed the New START Treaty, which he criticized for (Boston.com) limiting U.S. missile defense options, contributing to Russia's "substantial nuclear advantage over the United States," and having an inadequate verification protocol. While, "ideally, we would [like to] rid the planet of nuclear weapons," Romney writes in his book, No Apology, "we are unlikely to be successful in doing so, at least within the coming decades," and therefore "America's strategic defense relies on credible nuclear deterrence."
In a November 2011 Republican debate in South Carolina, Romney said if "crippling sanctions" and other strategies fail, military action against Iran would be an option. Romney called the Bush administration's Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism "a good start," but has said it should be accelerated and expanded.
Newt Gingrich (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Gingrich withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on May 2, 2012.
Gingrich has called New START a "stupid treaty" that "behaves as though the world is bilateral." The United States, he has argued, "has more reason to worry about actual and potential nuclear missile threats from Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and China." He believes that the treaty weakens U.S. missile defense and represents a retreat from previous U.S. commitments to deploy missile defense systems in central Europe.
In a debate with candidate Jon Huntsman, Gingrich said regime change in Iran is necessary to prevent the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons. During a November 2011 Republican debate in South Carolina, Gingrich advocated "maximum covert operations--to block and disrupt the Iranian program," coordination with Israel, "every possible aspect short of war" to bring down the regime, and, if those measures fail, "whatever steps are necessary to break its capacity to have a nuclear weapon."
Rick Santorum (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Santorum withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 10, 2012.
Santorum authored the Iran Freedom Support Act as a U.S. senator in 2006, authorizing sanctions against governments or entities that are "assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles." Santorum has argued that the threat of a nuclear Iran (CNBC) has crept into "our hemisphere" with countries like Venezuela, through which it has allegedly been funding and supporting militant groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Santorum has also said, "A country that is developing a weapon of mass destruction to use it to destroy another country must be stopped in a preemptive strike (ABC)." In 1999, Santorum voted against adopting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans nuclear testing six months after ratification by forty-four nations with nuclear power plants or reactors.
Jon Huntsman (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Huntsman withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 16, 2012.
During a debate with candidate Newt Gingrich in December 2011, Huntsman called a nuclear Iran the "transcendent threat" of this decade, saying "all options need to be on the table" to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He also said that he did not believe sanctions against Iran would be effective.
In a commencement address in May 2011, at Southern New Hampshire University, Huntsman said, "I cannot live with a nuclear-armed Iran. If you want an example of when I would use American force, it would be that." He has also said the United States must coordinate (AFP) with South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia to "use all available pressure points to prevent rogue activities and proliferation" out of North Korea.
In a December 2011 op-ed (CNN), Huntsman wrote that the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that month made the country's nuclear weapons program an "immediate priority." He said the United States should work with "allies and others to encourage the new regime in Pyongyang to make the wise decision to give up nuclear weapons permanently."
Rick Perry (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Perry withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 19, 2012.
Governor Perry of Texas has criticized the Obama administration for laboring "under the misconception that Iran's nuclear program could be negotiated away," and says a nuclear Iran would threaten U.S. interests abroad and security at home. During a November 2011 Republican debate, Perry said that sanctioning Iran's central bank would be helpful in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. On his website, Perry says he would "leave every option on the table" to counter Iran, including "military options."
In a September 2011 Republican debate, Perry advocated building relationships "with Southeast Asian countries, such as India, to assist in a potential situation where the Taliban had acquired Pakistan's nuclear weapons." Upon the death of North Korea's Kim Jong-il in December 2011, Perry cited Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities (CNN), saying "there is a great threat that those weapons might fall into the wrong hands if civil war breaks out."
Campaign 2012
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