Bolton: Iran Agreement a ‘Disaster’; Work to
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Work to Get Out ‘Needs to Be Done Now’
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Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton discussed his National Review op-ed on how to get the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear agreement with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Thursday.
Below is an excerpt from Bolton’s NRO piece:
Although candidate Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear agreement, his administration has twice decided to remain in the deal. It so certified to Congress, most recently in July, as required by law. Before the second certification, Trump asked repeatedly for alternatives to acquiescing yet again in a policy he clearly abhorred. But no such options were forthcoming, despite “a sharp series of exchanges” between the president and his advisers, as the New York Times and similar press reports characterized it.
Many outside the administration wondered how this was possible: Was Trump in control, or were his advisers? Defining a compelling rationale to exit Obama’s failed nuclear deal and elaborating a game plan to do so are quite easy. In fact, Steve Bannon asked me in late July to draw up just such a game plan for the president — the option he didn’t have — which I did.
“This deal was a disaster strategically for the United States,” Bolton told Marlow today. “And we need to explain that,” he continued.
Bolton walked through the process that would need to be undertaken to withdraw from the agreement, as Trump talked about on the campaign trail.
Bolton said, “This work needs to be done now, in advance, before the President makes a decision perhaps in September, perhaps in October. You don’t want to be at a point where he says, look, my decision is we’re getting out and then you start the work to engage diplomatically and with the media and the Hill. You’ve got to start doing that right now