If he should be elected president, Rick Perry said on Monday that one of his first actions would be to invalidate the President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran.
"Should I run for president, and be so fortunate to be elected, one of my first actions in office would be to invalidate the president's Iran agreement, which jeopardizes the safety and security of the free world," Perry told an audience at The Citadel, South Carolina's military college,
according to The Washington Post.
Taking direct aim at the president, the former Texas governor criticized the agreement, which he said will not prevent Iran from achieving its goals of becoming a nuclear power.
"Just the opposite, this agreement enables it. And no agreement is better than a bad agreement," he asserted.
Once the agreement was nullified, Perry
told Bloomberg News that he would impose additional economic sanctions, bolster opposition groups within Iran and, if necessary, use military force to take out the regime's nuclear facilities.
"The Israelis have dealt with this twice, to take out their ability to use their nuclear facilities, and that certainly is an option that needs to be on the table," he said.
While he took aim at Obama, Perry did not shy away from drawing a direct link between the Obama administration's foreign policy failures and the performance of the Democratic Party's presidential front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"She's either going to have to stand up and say 'I was a complete and utter failure as secretary of state,' or she's going to have to take ownership of these issues. I think you are going to find a secretary of state who is going to be looked upon as a failure," he told reporters in a conference call on Monday.
As the only potential GOP presidential candidate who has served in the military, Perry, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, frequently infused his remarks with references to and tale of his own service.
"In recent years, our leaders have painted a fictional picture of the state of our military, and the challenges we face as a country. America deserves better. You deserve better. If you choose to wear the uniform of our nation, you deserve the truth about the realities you will face, however unpleasant," said Perry, who also used the speech to tell cadets about the day in 1968 when his father dropped him at Texas A&M University into the "loving hands" of the Corps of Cadets,
reports The Texas Tribune.
Perry, whose military service is a relatively little-known aspect of his record,
told The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin that wearing the uniform gives him a perspective his rivals lack.
"It is not unlike executive experience. You don't come by it naturally. You make a clear decision [to serve]," he said. "Having worn the uniform brings a unique perspective on impact on the families. All too often this gets lost in the mix."
In an ad released in February, Perry did make a direct reference to the fact he is the only potential candidate who has served.
While his speech was hard-hitting and aggressive, Perry was more introspective on a guided tour of the Charleston grounds of The Citadel, according to The Texas Tribune.
During the tour, he encountered a colonel who recounted the "many hours sitting on a green ramp with a parachute on." Perry simply responded, "yes, sir."
Watch the video here.
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