It's a mistake for President Barack Obama to believe Iran's nuclear program can be curbed through negotiation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, says Seth Cropsey, who was assistant to former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.
"President Obama believes that everything can be negotiated and seems to have a soft spot for Iran as has been demonstrated by his continued faith — I can't call it anything else — that negotiations will somehow end their nuclear program," Cropsey told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"They won't. It's really a mistake if the White House is saying that President Obama spoke with the leader of Iran because ... the supreme leader is the Ayatollah Khamenei and he's the one who really calls the shots."
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On Friday, Obama told the nation he had spoken by phone with Rouhani in the first chat between an American and Iranian president since 1979.
Obama said he believed the United States and Iran can reach a "comprehensive solution" on Iran’s nuclear program.
But Cropsey, who also served as Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy, isn't convinced.
"Abraham Lincoln was once asked his opinion about a book he had been given and he very politely said, evading the question, that people who liked this will find this the sort of thing they like," he said.
"That applies to President Obama and his views on Iran. It's something he wants to believe and he's going to believe it. So that's pretty much the beginning and the end of this except what he actually does as a result.
"But if he believes that Iran is going to stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons because of a few remarks made for public consumption by Mr. Rouhani, then he's making a big mistake and we'll just have to live with the consequences."
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