Feisty freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., says President Barack Obama isn’t showing enough backbone in his dealings with Iran.
“Right now he’s not conveying any kind of strength, whatsoever,” West told
The Hill. “If I were sitting at the White House I would say two words to Iran — that’s ‘game on’.”
West’s criticism came after a report Wednesday that an Iranian lawmaker said Obama called for direct talks with the rogue nation in a secret communication to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Obama administration officials denied the report. West is a member of the House Armed Service Committee and an Army veteran.
Talks aren’t the way to go, he said, according to The Hill. “Sooner or later you have to understand that the only thing they’re going to recognize is strength and might, and you must have a credible and viable military threat on the table,” West said. “We’re telegraphing ourselves to be weak.”
Obama didn’t show Iran enough of the stick when it threatened last month to close the Strait of Hormuz, which would cut off oil shipments, West said, according to The Hill. “I would think the commander in chief would stand up for the fact that it is a direct threat to our national interest,” he said. “There are many ways to get into a conflict without us having to commit forces to a land operation.”
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