Former Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo and others slammed Biden’s government on Thursday after the White House announced it was ready to resume diplomacy with Tehran over a nuclear deal.
Critics have argued that the government is rapidly entering into talks with a regime accused of sponsoring terrorist attacks against US forces. Others fear that the Biden government could provide Iran’s sanctions relief and concessions with little shift in its nuclear program.
“The Ayatollah only understands power. I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from its terror and supported the Jewish state of Israel,” Pompeo was quoted as saying by the Washington Free Beacon. “The adoption of the European accommodation model … will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.”
Pompeo said the Trump administration – which withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and other nations in 2018 – “refuses” to “appease the Iranian theocracy”, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
IRAQ ROCKET ATTACK DEADER, WONDER OUR SERVICE MEMBER, COALITION SAY
His comments come after State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that Biden’s government would accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a P5 + 1 meeting in Iran. discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program. ‘
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that President Biden’s government should avoid the Obama administration’s mistakes in dealing with Iran.
Earlier this week, during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night”, Pompeo responded to comments from his successor to the State Department, Secretary Antony Blinken, claiming that the US was disconnected from foreign policy during the Trump administration.
“We were incredibly engaged and incredibly productive,” Pompeo told host Shannon Bream.
He later added: “The work we have done in the Middle East – whether it is the Abrahamic Agreement to get several countries to agree to recognize Israel, or the work we have done to put pressure on the Iranian regime instead – these were good things for the American people. It created wealth, it created jobs here at home and it also kept us safer. ‘
Bream asks Pompeo how the Biden administration should respond properly to Iran’s aggressive behavior.
“When the Iranians experience weakness, they will attack,” Pompeo said. “What we did was that when we got behind an American, we made it very clear: whether they attacked an American by a proxy in Iraq, or they attacked an American through Hezbollah in Syria. , wherever it was, wherever Iran was responsible, we’re going to hold the Iranians accountable, that’s the kind of strength that built the deterrent model we had with respect to Iran. I hope this current administration will not give up not.
“We know that under Iraq, Obama has crushed the Iranian regime,” he said. ‘They signed up for an agreement that offered a path, a clear path to a nuclear weapon. When the Iranians realize that this is the agreement they can strike, they will continue to inflict costs on the American people.
“We can not go back. When President Biden talks about going back, the American people can not afford to go back to the policy.”
He later characterized the Obama deal with Iran as a “crazy deal” that gave Iran the idea that it could push President Obama around.
‘We [Trump] the administration did not allow this to happen, ”he added.
Josh Rogin, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote in an opinion piece on Thursday how the renewed talks took place after alleged Iraqi Shiite militia rockets launched at a U.S. air base in northern Iraq on Monday. He added that the government in Biden had yet to acknowledge who was responsible for it – despite the militia demanding credit.
“Other Iranian proxies, such as the Houthis in Yemen, are not rewarding Biden’s more diplomatic approach with self-control – responding to outreach with new attacks on civilians,” Rogin wrote. “Meanwhile, the leaders in Tehran are acting as if they have all the leverage, making demands and increasing their nuclear power.”
“Iran takes nuclear power fraud to the next level, just a few days ago fires firearms at Americans in Erbil and then threatens to keep nuclear inspectors out, and how does Biden react? Absolutely suffocating,” said Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior co-worker of Hudson Institute, according to the Daily Wire. “And what a disastrous message to send to adversaries around the world.”
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, R-Texas, also criticized the decision, saying the Biden government should use U.S. sanctions as leverage to reach a broader agreement that limits Iran’s aggressive actions.
“This is about the Biden government already making concessions in an apparent attempt to re-enter into the flawed Iran deal,” said McCaul, the top Republican in the State Department.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: WHAT IS IT?
Still, others were optimistic about the redesigned talks with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn. call it ‘good news’.
“But the US needs to move fast,” he wrote on Twitter. “The sooner we reunite with Europe, Russia and China over Iran policy, the sooner we can extend the Iran agreement and work with these partners to curb Iran’s other malicious behavior.”
The Iran Nuclear Power Agreement – officially the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – was a historic agreement reached in 2015 by Iran and several world powers, including the United States.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Blinken and other senior State Department officials had earlier stated that Iran should halt uranium enrichment in order to ease US sanctions again and comply with the 2015 agreement, reports the Free Beacon.