President Donald Trump granted Iran relief from U.S. sanctions Friday — upholding participation in the 2015 nuclear deal — because he was "giving them one last chance to see if we can change their behavior," Sen. David Perdue told Newsmax TV on Friday.
"He's trying to hold the coalition together to keep pressure on the Ayatollah and this regime," Perdue, 68, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Newsmax TV's John Bachman in an exclusive interview.
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"We know from the riots they had just in Tehran this past week that there has always been a resistance movement there, but the Ayatollah and the current government kept those squashed.
"We know Iran is a bad player," he said. "We've given them every opportunity to become a reasonable player in the world."
A top Trump administration official said that the president wanted the Iran deal strengthened with a follow-on agreement in 120 days or the United States would fully withdraw from the international agreement.
President Trump also privately chafed at having to once again waive sanctions on a country he sees as a rising threat in the Middle East, according to news reports.
But the Treasury Department decided to impose new, targeted sanctions against 14 Iranian entities and individuals.
Reflecting on former President Barack Obama's rationale behind the Iran accord, Perdue told Bachman: "What the past president thought was if we give them the Iran deal, they would become more reasonable in terms of their action."
Instead, "what we saw was an increase in funding of Hezbollah and Hamas, the Houthis," he said. "We interdicted four shipments of arms going directly from Iran to the Houthis.
"They've demonstrated no willingness to reduce their support of terrorism.
"In addition, the missile testing, we believe, is in violation," Perdue added. "We also believe there are other violations.
"This is a president giving them one last chance to see if we can change their behavior.
"That deal should've never been signed," he told Bachman. "It should've been a treaty.
"This president shouldn't be in this position — and he wouldn't have been if the last president hadn't withdrawn America from its responsibility around the world."
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