You really have to wonder if these people even hear the words coming out of their mouths. During an interview on this Sunday’s This Week on ABC, UN Ambassador Mike Walz was asked about some of the criticism of the supposed “deal” being made with Iran this weekend, and the fact that anything that is agreed to is not going to be an improvement on the JCPOA that was negotiated during his administration.
After lying that whatever they negotiate now is going to be an improvement, host Martha Raddatz followed up with some specifics, which led to Walz telling this whopper.
RADDATZ: Let me just say, with the JCPOA, they lifted sanctions only after there were verifiable steps toward implementing the deal. That took six months. They didn’t get any sort of payment until that was verified. And I know they will say that those were unfrozen assets. But I also want to go back to what President Obama said. 80 percent, 90 percent of a deal may be better than going to war. You want 100 percent of what you want.
WALTZ: Well, first, to your point of verified, you know, under the JCPOA, and that definition was so loose that the Iranians just trampled all over what we could verify or what we couldn’t, as dictated by them.
And then, you know, respectfully, to President Obama, no one here is bombing their way to a deal. I was personally with the president last year when he sent a letter suggesting to the Iranians we enter into negotiations. That was over a year ago and before Midnight Hammer. We tried again through multiple rounds this year.
This president has always put diplomacy first, but unlike his predecessors, it has to be backed with credible military force. That is what we’ve seen over the years. The only thing that regimes like Iran will ultimately respect.
Otherwise, your diplomacy is feckless and meaningless if you don’t have a strong, credible threat of military force behind it and a president who’s willing to use it. That’s one of the things that has gotten these negotiations back on track just this past week.
And I just returned from the Middle East. And I can tell you, sitting with our Gulf Arab allies, that they know the Iranians will only respect strength and a strong negotiating position. And both the Obama and Biden teams did not have that on the table, and I think that’s why the JCPOA was so flawed.
Trump was literally threatening to nuke Iran the day before, which Raddatz couldn’t bother to mention. Pete Hegseth has continually said the United States will “negotiate with bombs” if need be. Midnight Hammer itself was a military strike that occurred mid-negotiation track, not “before” diplomacy. But what do you expect from someone who was defending Trump’s threat to commit war crimes and take out civilian infrastructure back in April.
