Republican presidential candidate John Kasich on Thursday blasted the Obama administration over the Iran nuclear deal and its treatment of Israel.
During a town hall meeting at Dartmouth College aired Friday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, Kasich said that the initial concern that Iran would breach the nuclear deal has proven to be true.
Iran is “getting very, very close to where I would say they are violating the treaty,” Kasich said.
On October 11, Iran tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead at an undisclosed location. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power admitted that the test is a violation of UN resolutions but refused to say whether it violated the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), stressing that “it’s not the first time they are doing that.”
During the 2nd televised GOP debate last month, Kasich promised to “rip up the deal” if Iran is caught cheating. “If they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, then the military option is on the table,” Kasich pledged. “If we think they’re getting close to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon.”
The Ohio Governor criticized President Barack Obama for a frayed relationship with Israel. Kasich said he specially flew in to DC to attend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in March, marking the first time he sat on the House floor in 15 years. “Our president won’t even meet with the prime minister. I couldn’t believe it,” he said, adding that if the prime minister wanted to see him, he said he’d be happy to sit down “for coffee in private if I don’t want to do it in public” just to show support.
It should be noted that Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Obama on November 9th at the White House.
On the current flare-up in violence in Israel, Kasich said the moral equivalence between Israel’s security measures and the stabbing attacks are wrong. “At this point, I don’t think the comparisons are accurate,” he remarked.
