Iran is trying to build an em-pire much like Hitler’s Germany, former CIA Director James Woolsey said Monday, citing Tehran’s moves to exert its influence in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
“They are doing it on a highly ideological basis. They never cease chanting ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to the United States,’” Woolsey said in a CNBC “Squawk Box” interview. “They are an imperial power and trying to become more of an imperial power.”
Woolsey called for a halt to the Big Six nuclear talks with Iran.
“Given Iran’s aggressiveness and the fanaticism of its leaders, I don’t think we can do a reasonable deal with them. They’ll cheat.”
Regardless of whether an agreement can be reached to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions with verification measures, the rogue nation could have nuclear weapons capabilities in a “year or so,” Woolsey said.
“If we stop the talks, clamp [on] further sanctions, introduce far more competition than exists today into the oil business,… we could slow them down.”
Speculating on why the US is participating in the talks, Woolsey said, “I think the president wants a good relationship with Iran and an agreement so he can claim a diplomatic victory.”
Woolsey is chairman of the advocacy group Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He has held presidential appointments in two Republican and two Democratic administrations, mostly recently as CIA chief under Bill Clinton.