Former US Vice President Mike Pence slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine on Monday, while also heavily criticizing the Biden administration for working alongside Russia to restore the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
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"I must tell you that as the travesty unfolds on the landscape of Ukraine, it is just unconscionable that the American administration is at the same time negotiating at the side of the Russians to restart the Iranian nuclear deal," Pence told Israel Hayom in an exclusive interview.
Video: Moshe Ben Simhon
Pence, who is visiting Israel this week, tied the situation with Ukraine to the current talks between Iran and the world powers in Vienna aimed at finding a way to have the US re-enter the 2015 deal, more than three years after the Trump administration left it.
"Putin must stop or Putin must pay," Pence said. "We need to focus the world's energy on ending the Ukrainian invasion and continuing to put pressure to bear until the Russian troops are out of Ukraine," he added, before attacking President Joe Biden for continuing his engagement with the Kremlin as part of the Vienna talks.
Pence said that reviving the deal "would be bad in a peacetime" but "to literally be working with the Russians to achieve once again some deeply flawed and dangerous agreement with the ayatollahs in Iran is just utterly unacceptable." Pence went on to say, "I believe that particularly at such a time as this, our administration in the US should not be working with Russia to ease sanctions or in any way put Iran back among the community of nations."
Pence, who is known to be a strong supporter of Israel, will receive an Honorary Doctorate from Ariel University in recognition of his steadfast contributions and achievements to strengthen the United States and the State of Israel.
The full interview will appear this Friday.
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