Iran has been "enriched and empowered" by the nuclear bill passed during the Obama administration, and President Donald Trump is right to demand that it be changed or that the United States gets out of it, Sen. John Barrasso said Wednesday.
"I think the president is right," the Wyoming Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "It was a terrible deal. Iran with a nuclear weapon makes the world less safe, secure and less stable."
Iran has been "enriched and empowered by the deal and using the money to sponsor terrorism," Barrasso added, and is continuing to develop ballistic missiles, despite the agreement.
On Tuesday, Trump warned that if Iran threatens the United States, "they will pay a price that few countries have ever paid," and Barrasso responded that's because the president "speaks clearly and carries a big stick."
"We have the capacity to do the kind of things against Iran and the president is committed to use it if necessary," said the senator. "We don't want that to happen. It is why we need to get the secretary of state confirmed with Mike Pompeo."
It is also important to remember with the state visit from French President Emmanuel Macron this week, it was the French who were wanting to be tougher in the Iran deal than [former Secretary of State] John Kerry and President [Barack] Obama in the last administration. The French were asking for much more but the United States relented and asked a lot less."
There is some division in the Republican Party over how to proceed with the Iran deal, but Barrasso said his party is unified in the fact that it was a bad deal to begin with.
"The question is, given the bad hand we've been dealt, what do you do now?: he said. "We don't want Iran to develop nuclear weapons and the testing to continue with the ballistic missiles. We know they are sponsoring terrorism. We're unified on that. The question is how to move forward. My recommendation to the president if we can't get a much better deal it's time to get out."
This weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to the United States for further talks with Trump over the Iran deal, said Barrasso, and he believes Trump is leading "with strength and determination" on the issue.
"I think we'll get to a good place but we aren't there now because of the deal that has been set, which gave Iran immunity to do the sorts of things we never wanted them to do, and they're doing on their path to a nuclear weapon," said Barrasso.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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