The US must not sign a ‘dangerous’ deal with Iran to curb the regime’s nuclear ambitions, the former US ambassador to the United Nations has warned.
Americans should do ‘anything they can’ to prevent Obama’s deal with the mullahs going ahead, John Bolton said in an interview published by Newsmax.
The proposed agreement would involve Iran cutting back by 40 per cent the number of machines it uses to make an atomic bomb, in return for ‘quick relief from some crippling economic sanctions and a partial lift of a UN embargo on conventional arms’, the Associated Press reported.
Mr Bolton said: “We’re coming up to a very, very dangerous time.
“I’m very worried the president’s rushing to sign this deal. I think he’s worried that if more time goes by and Congress has a chance to vote on more economic sanctions on Iran that he’s going to lose the deal. And anything we can do to make this deal crash before he signs it, we should do.”
A new report from the UN’s nuclear watchdog arm the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated last month that Iran continues not to cooperate with IAEA investigators.
The UN agency added: “Iran has not provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures.”
Mr Bolton warned: “There is very little time left. I’m afraid that Obama is so determined to sign this deal with Iran over their nuclear weapons program that it could come almost any day.”
Mr Bolton also Obama did not want a treaty with Iran because that would need congressional approval, adding: “He doesn’t want any congressional involvement because he knows how bad this deal is. And if it’s exposed, it’s just not sustainable politically. I think even the Democrats will desert him in droves.
“Fortunately, he may go to the UN Security Council to get the Council to lift the sanctions that the Council itself put in place. But nothing the Security Council can do is going to affect our sovereignty on this. We have an inherent right to self defense, and a subsequent president and subsequent Congress can exercise it.
“I think the real issue now is to do whatever we can to try and stop the deal. You know, Obama is so afraid of arguments about how bad this deal is.”
“If the deal is so fragile that dissent in the United States scares the ayatollahs away, that shows you there’s no deal at all.”