Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others criticized the Biden government on Thursday after the White House signaled it was ready to resume diplomacy with Tehran over a nuclear deal.
Critics argued that the government was rushing into negotiations with a regime that is accused of sponsoring terrorist attacks against US forces. Others fear that the Biden government may provide Iran with relief through sanctions and concessions with little change to its nuclear program.
“The ayatollah understands only strength. I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from their terror and supported the Jewish state of Israel,” said Pompeo, according to the Washington Free Beacon. “The adoption of the European Union’s accommodation model … will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.”
Pompeo said the Trump administration – which in 2018 withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration and other nations – “refused” to “appease the Iranian theocracy”, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
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His comments came after State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that the Biden government “would accept an invitation from the European Union’s High Representative to attend a P5 + 1 and Iran meeting to discuss a diplomatic way to advance the Iranian nuclear program “.
President Biden’s government needs to avoid the Obama administration’s mistakes in dealing with Iran, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.
Earlier this week, during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night”, Pompeo responded to comments by his successor in the State Department, Secretary Antony Blinken, who claimed that the US was disconnected from foreign policy during the Trump administration.
“We were incredibly engaged and productive,” Pompeo told host Shannon Bream.
He later added: “The work we did in the Middle East – whether Abraham’s agreements to get several countries to agree to recognize Israel, or the work we did to put the Iranian regime under pressure – were good things for the American people. It created wealth, it created jobs here at home and it also kept us safer. “
Bream then asked Pompeo how the Biden administration should respond appropriately to Iran’s aggressive behavior.
“When the Iranians feel weak, they will attack,” said Pompeo. “What we did was that, when they came after an American, we made that very clear: if they attacked an American through a proxy force in Iraq, if they attacked an American through Hezbollah in Syria, wherever it is, wherever Iran is responsible, we were going to hold Iranians responsible. This is the kind of force that built the model of deterrence that we had with Iran. I hope this current administration will not give up on that.
“We know that under President Obama, they spoiled the Iraniain regime,” he continued. “They signed an agreement that presented a path, a clear path for a nuclear weapon. When the Iranians realize that this is the deal, they can attack, they will continue to inflict costs on the American people.
“We can’t go back. When President Biden talks about going back, the American people cannot afford to go back to those policies.”
He later characterized the Obama deal negotiated with Iran as a “low quality deal” that gave Iran the notion that it could “push President Obama”.
“Our [Trump] administration did not allow this to happen, “he added.
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, in an opinion article on Thursday, wrote how the resumption of talks came after an alleged Iranian Iraqi Shiite militia launched rockets at a U.S. air base in northern Iraq on Monday. -market. He added that the Biden government has yet to recognize who was responsible – despite the militia claiming credit.
“Other Iranian representatives, such as the Houthis in Yemen, are not rewarding Biden’s more diplomatic approach in moderation – responding within reach with new attacks on civilians,” wrote Rogin. “Meanwhile, leaders in Tehran are acting as if they have all the influence, making demands and increasing their nuclear capacity.”
“Iran takes cheating on the nuclear deal to the next level, fires rockets at Americans in Erbil a few days ago, then threatens to keep nuclear inspectors out, and how does Biden respond? Absolutely suffocates,” added Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior member of the Hudson Institute , according to the Daily Wire. “And what a disastrous message to send to opponents around the world.”
US Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, also criticized the decision, saying the Biden government needed to use U.S. sanctions as a lever to reach a broader deal that would limit Iran’s aggressive actions.
“It is worrying that the Biden government is already making concessions in an apparent attempt to re-enter the failed Iran deal,” said McCaul, the top Republican on the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Still, others were optimistic about the resumption of negotiations, with US Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn. calling it “great news”.
“But the United States needs to act quickly,” he wrote on Twitter. “The sooner we meet with Europe, Russia and China on Iran’s policy, the sooner we will be able to extend the agreement with Iran and work with those partners to contain Iran’s other malevolent behavior.”
The structure of the nuclear deal with Iran – officially the Joint Global Action Plan – was a historic agreement reached by Iran and several world powers, including the United States, in 2015.
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Blinken and other senior State Department officials previously said that, in order to get relief from U.S. sanctions, Iran must cease enriching its uranium and return to complying with the 2015 agreement, Free Beacon reported.