Former U.S. defense secretary William Cohen told Bloomberg that U.S. must walk away from any nuclear deal with the Iranian regime that does not provide unrestricted access to military nuclear sites requested by international inspectors.
Cohen told Bloomberg “Let’s verify and then trust”. He added: “Because of the way in which the Iranians have conducted a covert program for so many years, I think it’s incumbent on Iran to earn the trust before they can say the verification regime is okay.”
Referring to the April framework agreement that called on the Iranian regime to provide access to all nuclear sites, he said: “Iran has got to come forward and say this is what we agreed to in April. We’re going to now certify and solidify that, and we’re going to allow you to have inspection from time to time, but whenever necessary, on military sites or any other site that the international agency inspection would require.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio called on President Obama to walk away from negotiations with the Iranian regime, after the deadline to reach a long-term deal was extended until next week.
Rubio, who is running for president, said in a statement. “If the president were serious about negotiating a deal that advances our security and protects our allies, such as Israel, he would walk away from the table and impose new sanctions on Iran until the regime comes to the table ready to negotiate seriously.”
Senator Rubio added that, even without a finalized deal he knows the agreement “is not in the interests of the United States.”