January 10-2014
US credibility is at stake “all over the world” as a result of November’s agreement with Iran to curb it’s nuclear programs, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain says, asserting the Iranian government has “cheated and lied” for 20 years on the issue.
McCain, appearing last Monday on CBS This Morning , called for increased sanctions as the best way to force Iran into complying with nuclear proliferation treaties.
But McCain warned that the United States needs to be more careful and that Iran cannot be trusted.
Further, he said that there is no such thing as “good guys” or “bad guys” when it comes to Iran’s leadership, because there is only one leader running the country.
“His name is the ayatollah,” McCain said. “He calls the shots. So it’s sort of like the [Russian Prime Minister Dmitry] Med-vedev thing. We can work with Medvedev when we know he’s the puppet and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is the guy.”
As a result of the agreement that was reached, McCain said, “All over the world, the United States’ credibility is at stake,” warning that the Iranian government has not told the truth for years when it comes to its nuclear capabilities.
“If you believe that the deal that’s been made is valid and allowing the centrifuges to continue to spin with a tacit agreement that Iran has the quote, ‘right to enrich,’ which is in violation of four UN Security Council agreements, then you may want to pursue this,” said McCain.
“And we will — when I say ‘we,’ — we, the critics, will say that after six months is elapsed, if there’s no deal, then we think increas[ing] sanctions are the most effective way to bring Iran around.”
However, allowing leeway to Iran—”a country that has cheated and lied throughout this whole process”—and failing to say it is prohibited to enrich uranium “is a serious mistake,” said McCain.
Further, McCain said, the United States is ignoring the regional conflict in Iran and the Middle East.
“Iran’s client, 5,000 Hezbollah, are killing Syrians as we speak,” he said. “Iranian arms are flowing into Syria, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is in Syria killing Syrians. We do nothing about that. Nothing.”
He dismissed the agreement’s provision to allow more access to UN inspectors. “They have led inspectors in plants in the past, while other plants are being built and tunnels are being dug into mountains,” he said.