In a speech slamming President Obama’s Iran deal — which Congress is debating this week — former Vice President Dick Cheney suggested that only the threat of military action could prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program.

“As soon as President Obama went on Israeli TV and effectively ruled out the option of force, the Iranians knew that they had won,” Cheney said, speaking Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute.

Instead, Cheney said, the U.S. should have insisted that Iran halt its enrichment processes, halt its ballistics program, agree to anytime-anywhere inspections, and provide an accounting of its nuclear program.

“If Iran chooses not to do so, they must understand the U.S. stands ready to take military action to ensure they do not acquire a nuclear weapon,” Cheney said, receiving applause from the audience. He went on to outline previous circumstances when the U.S. and its allies used force to attack a country’s nuclear weapons program.

“In each of these cases, it was either military action or the threat of military action to convince these rogue regimes to abandon their weapons programs,” Cheney said. “Iran will not be convinced to abandon its programs peacefully unless it knows it faces a military action if it refuses to do so.”