Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. (Getty Images)
Cruz then accused Blinken and the State Department of repeatedly telling Israel "not to kill" Hamas terrorists, citing a tweet he said the department later deleted immediately after the Oct. 7 attack, calling on Israel "not to engage in military retaliation."
"Senator, I was in Israel five days after Oct. 7. I've been there seven times since. No one, starting with President Biden, has done more to make sure they have what they need to defend themselves from Hamas, to deal with the threat," Blinken said, as Cruz pushed back.
"That is simply wrong. … That is ludicrous," Cruz said, asking if the administration had cut off sending weapons to Israel.
Blinken denied the administration had cut off any weapons supplies, but Cruz began to press him on funding for Iran.
Cruz noted that Iran's oil production had increased since Biden had taken office, and that the nation had developed more "ghost" ships to circumvent the sanctions against it and ship the oil.
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi attends a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
"This administration desperately wants a new Iran deal. You have been showering cash on Iran from day one," Cruz said, referencing what he said was the administration's "refusal to enforce oil sanctions."
"In a very real sense, this administration, you and President Biden funded the Oct. 7 attacks by flowing $100 billion to a homicidal, genocidal regime that funded those attacks," he added.
Blinken quickly hit back, calling Cruz's statement "profoundly wrong" and "disgraceful," to which the latter responded, "Why?"
"We have gone at Iran repeatedly with more than 600 sanctions applied against them," Blinken said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Why are they selling 10 million barrels a day compared to 300,000?" Cruz responded.
Blinken argued Iran was working hard to get around the sanctions, and that the administration was continuing to "go at them" every day despite the country being "determined" to sell more oil.
"They weren't determined when Trump was president," Cruz said.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on X at @BGillespieAL.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hearing-off-rails-ted-cruz-accuses-biden-official-funding-hamas-attack-israel