A group of retired U.S. military officials have warned that Washington will have a difficult time in ensuring stability in the Middle East once the Iran nuclear deal goes into effect.
The retired officials warn in a new report that the nuclear deal would allow the regime in Iran to gain billions of dollars in revenue from lifted sanctions and increased oil revenues, while the U.S. defense budget would remain constrained under budget cuts known as sequestration, TheHill.com reported on Sunday.
“As Iran bristles with more and newer arms, the United States will have fewer and older ones to counter them,” says the report from Retired Marine Gen. James Conway, Retired Air Force Gen. A Charles Wald, Retired Navy Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, Retired Army Gen. Lou Wagner, Retired Vice Adm. John Bird, Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, and Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Lawrence Stutzriem.
Already, the former officials pointed out, the U.S. Navy won’t be able to maintain a carrier presence for approximately two months this year due to reduced availability of carriers under sequestration.
Gen. Wald, a co-chair of the commission that produced the report, said the U.S. has no choice but to increase its presence in the Middle East in light of the Iran deal.
“We’re going to have to be more committed, to a coalition involvement in the Middle East, to defend against what is inevitably going to be a growing Iranian threat,” he said.