James Jeffrey, former ambassador to Iraq and Turkey and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, told Newsmax on Saturday that "Russia, Iran, and China" are "trying to expand their regional power by pushing America."
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, a confidential report by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has previously warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make "several" nuclear bombs if it chose to do so.
Jeffrey told "America Right Now" that Iran is sending a message, adding that the three nations are weakening alliances the U.S. "has developed over the last 20 years."
"The Trump administration was the first to focus more directly on this, particularly with China. The Biden administration in their 2022 national security strategy laid out essentially a competition with Russia, China.
"So our country is slowly reacting to what is ever more pressing threats on all three fronts Europe, Asia and the Middle East," he said.
Jeffrey was joined in the conversation by John Limbert, former deputy assistant secretary of state to Iran.
"No administration — Democrat or Republican — wants to go to war with Iran over this issue," Limbert said.
"The last president fired his national security adviser when he when he was pushing toward a war," he said referring to former President Donald Trump.
"You can criticize the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]; but, again, as far as we know, the Iranians were observing it and were observing its limitations because it seemed to serve their interests too," he said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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