Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and current Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University Adm. James Stavridis (Ret.) said the verification regime of the Iran deal “is starting to roughly resemble Swiss cheese” and “the entire zeitgeist of the agreement at this point, seems to very much favor the Iranians in pursuing the bomb” on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Stavridis said that if he was advising a member of Congress on what they should ask abut the deal, “I think the top [issue] is the verification regime, which is starting to roughly resemble Swiss cheese. You could drive a truck through some of these holes. And I am very concerned about that.”
He continued, “this side deal, we need to have access to it and understand it. Reportedly, it puts Iran in the position of actually proffering samples, as opposed to have them actually taken by the IAEA. I haven’t read that side deal, but I want to, and I sure hope the Congress reads it. Secondly, the 24-day period is very concerning. And thirdly, the entire zeitgeist of the agreement at this point, seems to very much favor the Iranians in pursuing the bomb. But look, that’s really not the problem. The biggest problem here, is the airdrop of 100 to $150 billion into their economy, which is only 350 billion to begin with. That’s like the US getting a four trillion dollar insertion of capital. That’s the teeth of the alligator you just heard about. Those are two big concerns that are hard to get by.”
Stavridis added that if the deal fell apart, the timeline for Iran acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities and have more money injected into its economy would be shorter, “On the other hand, I think the US still can drive some degree of sanctions. We have a fair amount of control over a good deal of the frozen assets…it’s possible we could get some of the Europeans, notably France, to go along us with. There are cyber options to pursue. There are clandestine options to pursue. There are special forces options to pursue. I reject the notion that choice is simply between this deal and going to war.”
(h/t Daily Caller)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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