Rick Scott

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in an opinion piece published Wednesday that the time has come to bring down Iran's government, arguing the United States cannot allow Tehran to continue pursuing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorist groups across the Middle East.

"We must win. Nothing less than victory is an option for America," Scott wrote for The Daily Wire.

"We need to embrace the Apollo 13 mindset: Failure is not an option."

Scott said Iran's Islamist regime has spent nearly 50 years openly threatening the United States, arguing its "Death to America" rhetoric should be treated as a genuine threat, not political theater.

He said Iran has spent decades expanding its military and backing terrorist proxy groups with the goal of targeting innocent Americans.

"President Donald Trump has done what his predecessors could not," he wrote.

"He said, 'enough.' He said Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon to kill innocents en masse."

The Florida senator said the focus of the war must remain on Iran never having a nuclear weapon, no matter the cost.

"We all must remember that this is the greatest nuclear threat America has faced since the Soviet Union fell. Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon for deterrence," Scott wrote.

"The regime actively wants to detonate a nuclear weapon in our homeland and kill millions of Americans. Our nation has never experienced such a violent tragedy, and we cannot passively watch Iran achieve that ambition," he continued.

"That's why I support this operation. We need to act now and win," Scott wrote.

"Once we achieve our objective, we can withdraw to keep our servicemen safe and give our citizens peace of mind. That is how we've defined victory, and we cannot accept anything less."

Scott called the war a matter of life and death.

"Iran wants to kill Americans. They want to kill me, and they want to kill you," he wrote.

The Navy veteran said the war had succeeded in sending Iran's economy into free fall, shattering its government, and putting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the ropes. But, he said, more work remains.

"Iran's nuclear ambitions have not abated, and they still want to kill us. But if we can decapitate the terror-supporting regime of Iran and let the people choose their future, we may never have to worry about the Strait of Hormuz closing ever again," he wrote.

Scott called the war "a once-in-a-generation chance to finally neutralize the nuclear threat Iran poses to every American."

"Americans need to come together again. We don't want another 9/11, and we can't have an Iranian dirty bomb on our soil," he wrote.

"The radical Islamist regime is hearing its death knell. It's time to deliver the final blow."