A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Let's get a view now from Congress with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He's a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, President Trump says the blockade will get the Iranians back to the negotiating table and force them to reopen the strait. Here he is with reporters at the White House on Monday.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world. Because that's what they're doing. They're really blackmailing the world. We're not going to let that happen.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Senator Van Hollen, what do you think? Can this blockade actually achieve the president's goals?
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: No. And, A, let's remember that before Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu started this illegal war, the Strait of Hormuz was open. And so now all of this is designed to try to reopen what had been open previously. And the idea that you're going to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by blocking the Strait of Hormuz in an economic game of chicken with the Iranian regime is a losing proposition, a losing strategy.
MARTÍNEZ: I know a few weeks ago, Senator, you accused President Trump of lying about having productive conversations with Iran. This was after the U.S. halted strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure. Do you think that, even if they were to get back to the table, that you trust anything that the president says about how those talks are going?
VAN HOLLEN: No, we can't trust what the president is saying. What the president says and does is designed to affect the stock market just around the time it closes. But he's also losing with respect to that strategy because what he's just done in terms of blockading the Strait of Hormuz is going to drive oil and gas prices up. It's going to drive fertilizer prices up. Farmers across the United States, across the world are already screaming. So this is a losing proposition in a war that should've never started.
MARTÍNEZ: Senator, how do you get reliable information then? You're on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. How do you get reliable information about what is actually happening when talks do occur?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, it's a very good question because the administration is not sharing most information in real time. I was struck by this conversation the other day with Prime Minister Netanyahu where he's told that - he's telling people he's getting briefed every single morning by the administration. Well, they're not briefing members of Congress. And, A, this is why they don't want to have open hearings.
We've not had a hearing from a decision-maker from the administration in the United States Senate because they don't want the American people to know just how bad their strategy is, how they don't have an end game. So what we know we learn from news reports. And it was based on that, that it was clear that at least weeks ago when the president claimed they were in direct conversations, that was not true. Now, of course, they've since had the conversations in Pakistan.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
VAN HOLLEN: And look, I hope they're productive.
MARTÍNEZ: We're talking to Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen. What is your understanding of what exactly is happening in these meetings? Like, what kind of progress is made, if any at all?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, it's not clear. From reports, a lot of the focus has been on Iran's nuclear enrichment program. It is important to remind everybody that at the end of the Obama administration, they had negotiated the JCPOA, which prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And so (laughter) Donald Trump, of course, ripped that up in his first administration. And we've had a problem ever since. So they're talking about what to do with Iran's nuclear material, how to deal with enrichment. If we had just stayed in the JCPOA and extended the JCPOA, we wouldn't have to be doing any of this. And this is the wrong way to go about it.
MARTÍNEZ: President Trump has seemingly made it clear that he doesn't want any concessions on his end. What do you think could persuade Tehran to make concessions?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, my understanding is Tehran has been willing to make some concessions with respect to its nuclear program and has been from the start. I mean, they made concessions when they negotiated with Barack Obama. I mean, they dramatically reduced their stockpile. They dramatically reduced the enrichment level down to about 3.2%. So they've already demonstrated they're willing to make concessions on their nuclear program. It's Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu that want to make - that have refused to essentially take those proposals, to go back to the JCPOA, essentially.
MARTÍNEZ: I know congressional Democrats, such as yourself, Senator, have opposed this war. Six weeks in now, though, what do Democrats want the Trump administration to do next or at least attempt next?
VAN HOLLEN: We want him to end the war and do it today. And that's completely within the president's control. It's an illegal war. He never got authorization from Congress. It's making us less safe, not more safe. We're worse off today than before the war was started. So the best way to end it is to end it and stop it, which is why I won't support any additional funding for this illegal war.
MARTÍNEZ: So even though Iran is severely weakened, many of its leaders have been killed, the world is not safer and America is not safer, in your view?
VAN HOLLEN: We're not safer. We actually have a more extreme, more militant, more radical regime in place that is really completely tied in with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard right now. The region is on fire. Lebanon is on fire. We are worse off and less safe today than before the United States and Israel started this war.
MARTÍNEZ: So no goals have been reached for the U.S. at this point?
VAN HOLLEN: No goals have been reached. Now, the president of the United States, of course, told us over three weeks ago that we won. He said it just within the last couple of days, we won. So, look, if the president thinks we won, what the hell are we doing there still?
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. As the Senate returns to work this week, what is your top priority, at least right at the start?
VAN HOLLEN: Yeah, my top priority is doing everything we can to end the war. So we're going to continue to demand accountability from our colleagues. I just - introducing, again, a war powers resolution. We want to make sure that just every week and every day, they're having to face accountability from the American people because the American people clearly oppose this war. Majorities oppose this war.
MARTÍNEZ: Just a few seconds left. That war powers resolution, do you see any shift among your Republican colleagues on that?
VAN HOLLEN: We're going to keep pushing because we want to give them the opportunity to shift. And we want their constituents to be calling them to demand an end to the war. We will not give up.
MARTÍNEZ: Chris Van Hollen is a Democratic senator from Maryland. Senator, thank you very much.
VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR has requested interviews from multiple Republicans in Congress and from members of the administration. Those invitations remain open.
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