Iran is the most dangerous Middle Eastern country and represents the largest threat to the United States, says Elliott Abrams, former deputy national security adviser for President George W. Bush.
"First of all, [Iran is] a big sponsor of terrorism, Secondly, they're the one that's going for a nuclear weapon now,'' Abrams told Westchester County Executive and New York gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, guest host of "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV on Friday.
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They are "really, really trying to increase their power in the whole region, and they hate America. Not the people, I don't mean the Iranian people, but the ayatollahs.''
Abrams, a senior fellow at The Council on Foreign Relations, blames a lot of Iran's growing threat on President Barack Obama's foreign policy.
"I'd give him a D-minus because a lot of the problems we could have avoided; he could have avoided,'' Abrams said.
"His whole idea at the beginning was engagement with Iran, and he couldn't do that after the people rose up in June 2009. He's back to it now, seeing them as a potential ally.
"They are an enemy of the United States. This is crazy to think of them as a potential ally, and it really spooks the Israelis and our Arab friends to think that we make this mistake.''
Abrams also believes that Israelis, as well Arabs, have lost faith in the Obama administration.
"They just don't know what he's going to do next. [The] policy changes from one day to the next,'' he said.
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