An "inevitable byproduct" of the Iran nuclear deal will be the freeing of billions of dollars that could allow Tehran to support terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden tells
Newsmax TV.
In an interview with "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner, the former director for the CIA and NSA said even those who support the deal fear Iran will use the money to continue its state sponsorship of terrorism.
"My good friend Nick Burns [former lead U.S. negotiator on Iran's nuclear program] actually supported the deal," Hayden said, conceding that he, Burns and others "admitted that an absolutely inevitable byproduct of the deal would be to strengthen the Iranians in doing all these other things that are causing us such great grief throughout the Middle East and Persian Gulf."
"That's not even an arguable point," he said.
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Hayden also pointed to a second issue of
concern in the deal: its 10-year sunset clause.
"You can't let the clock run out in 10 years because then you leave Iran with a massive, industrial-strength nuclear technology base within striking distance of a nuclear weapon – with breakout time measured in weeks, not months, as it is now," Hayden said. "You can't let the deal expire. There's got to be a phase two that we should insist on negotiating now, or at least making it clear we are going to negotiate it, before Congress accepts the current deal…"
Hayden said though the nuclear deal has the potential to lead to war, it's been framed quite differently by President Barack Obama.
"If you allow yourself to define the problem the way the president did, which was simply, 'measure me on whether this deal prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon within the next 10 years,' even I …. have to admit it has particular strengths within that fairly narrowly defined basket," he said.
"But when you start talking about the inevitable effects of the deal… with regard to all these other activities and the inevitable impact of the deal in 10 years, you begin to see how problematic it is," he added. "Right now the administration wants you to measure it only on that one criteria, 0-to- 10."
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