Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin says the problem with trying to use diplomacy to curtail Iran's nuclear program is that it has never worked.
"If you realize the record of the Iranian regime since 1979 when they came to power, there has never been an instance, not one single instance, where diplomacy changed their behavior that resulted in them going back and saying, 'We're not going to do it that way anymore,'" Babbin, who is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, told Ed Berliner on "MidPoint" on
Newsmax TV on Monday.
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"It's just never happened. Why should we believe it would now?" he said.
"The sanctions are having some effect, but not a whole lot — not enough to change their behavior, and that's the failure of the sanctions," he contends.
"In 2009, there was almost a revolution in Iran, which would've ended this regime, but President Barack] Obama chose to not send them help, and as a result, the mullahs are still there," Babbin explained.
"We have to take our opportunities. I don't think you can have peace with this regime, you just simply can't," he said.
"We're in danger of terrorist attacks and further resistance to American operations around the world as long as this regime is in power," he added.
As for the framework agreement between Iran and the United States and other allies, Babbin, who worked at the Defense Department under former President George W. Bush, says the problem is that "this isn't a deal yet."
"They know the president is making a whole lot of assertions that the Iranians disagree with," he explained.
"At this point, we don't know what the agreement is going to be, what the basis for it really is going to be," he said.
"We know, for example, that it won't cover one of the most crucial points on the entire debate, that the [Iranians are] developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. They have developed a number that are probably capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, and this is not even addressed at all," he told Newsmax.
"If we're not going to cover the missile, why are we not going to do a whole lot more negotiations and try to force the Iranians into something that might actually mean something?" he asked.
"If you want to reduce terrorism, it goes back to what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu says, 'You have to force Iran to give up the sponsorship of terrorism,' and we're not doing that," he added.
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