National Security Adviser John Bolton would "very much like to go to war" with Iran, and he is setting a stage where that could happen, Sen. Jeff Merkley said Friday.
"He has written and said multiple times, 'look, Iran will never stop their nuclear program, (and) the only way to respond is to destroy it,'" the Oregon Democrat told CNN's "New Day." "He sees the world and he says 'I don't want negotiations, I want bombs.'"
Merkley, along with three other Democratic senators, has written a letter to President Donald Trump, asking to see intelligence on Iran, because of concerns that assessments against the country fit into a "larger pattern of inflating threats and bending intelligence to justify dangerous predetermined policies."
"What we're seeing is a question of who's provoking who," said Merkley, noting the United States left the Iran deal, designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as terrorists, and moved in a carrier battle strike group and a bomber squad.
Bolton, meanwhile, was "very very involved" in misrepresenting intelligence involving Iraq, so "this is almost like a replay of a bad movie that led to enormous security problems with Iran having access to an arc of influence that extends into Syria and Lebanon," said Merkley.
And if Trump is reacting to Bolton's actions and saying he's not okay with how matters are progressing, Merkley said, that makes him glad.
"I never would have expected it would be President Trump who was putting out the caution flag, but he's got really the individual advising him in that inner circle, who has one vision and he would like to see bombs dropping over Iran," said Merkley.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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