According to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the deal President Barack Obama negotiated with Iran was the worst deal America has ever negotiated with another country. The relationship and partnership with Israel, however, was the best deal the United States has ever made.
In his new book titled “Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again,” Trump writes that the nuclear deal President Barack Obama negotiated with Iran was “the worst I have ever seen.”
“Why when Iran was struggling financially would he agree to a nuclear deal that releases billions of dollars’ worth of assets, which will further subsidize their terrorism business? It makes no sense,” Trump asserts. “The deal President Obama negotiated with Iran was the worst I have ever seen. We couldn’t have done worse .. Obama put his ‘legacy’ on the line and before we walked into negotiations, the mullahs knew he had to have a deal or end up looking even more incompetent, so they fleeced him. Disgraceful.”
“We literally paid them to force us to accept a terrible deal,” Trump suggests. “That would be like me beginning negotiations to build another magnificent skyscraper along the Hudson with 50-mile views in all directions, and walking out with approval to put up a small three-story building facing a wall. Iran got what it wanted and in return gave up.”
As long as the ayatollah regime remains in power, he assumes, “Iran will be our enemy and a threat to Israel’s existence.” And therefore, the U.S. must take Ali Khamenei’s threats seriously “and act accordingly.”
Had he been commander in chief over the past two years, Trump writes he would “have laid down certain conditions that had to be agreed to, starting with the release of our four prisoners. I wouldn’t have settled for less than a complete dismantling of all their nuclear facilities, destruction of all their centrifuges, and on-site inspections anytime, anywhere.”
Going forward, Trump says the nest president will not be able to disavow the deal or put in place a system that would put sanctions back in place unilaterally. But he thinks that “there is always a loophole, we need to find it, and if necessary, they will pay -big-league dollars.”
“Whatever it takes, whatever we have to do, Iran cannot be allowed to build a nuclear weapon,” he declares. Adding that to deal with the Iranian nuclear threats, he’d be “happy to sit down” with Iranian leaders “when they understand that the best course for them, if they want to be a major player in the civilized world, is to close down their entire nuclear program.”
An Iran with a nuclear weapon “would force us to use extreme measures in defense of Israel and other allies in the region” and “that’s not going to happen, whatever Iran might think right now.”
The Republican presidential hopeful also touts his fondness of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. “I always loved and admired the Jewish people and supported the special relationship we have with Israel,” Trump states. “The next president has to restore our traditionally strong partnership. We have been there for Israel and will continue to be there for Israel, because it is the one stable democracy in that region.”
Trump often calls America’s political leadership stupid for not being able to negotiate good deals in trading with other countries. However, in the book he singles out Israel and a “fair trading partner” and “a fellow pioneer on the frontiers of medicine, communications, technology, and energy development,” which “will benefit both of our nations well into the future.”
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed that 41 percent of Republican voters trusted Trump to deal with foreign leaders, and 34 percent would trust him handling the nation’s nuclear weapons.
This post originally appeared at Jewish Insider.
