US President Donald Trump responded Monday to fierce criticism from within the Republican Party over the emerging deal with Iran in a lengthy post on his social media platform.
"I laugh at all of the Dumocrats, RINOS, and Fools who know nothing about the potential deal I am making with Iran, things that haven't even been negotiated yet, weak and ineffective people like failed Senator Thom Tillis (Soon out of office!), Bill Cassidy, who just suffered a massive Primary loss, really bad Congressman Thomas Massie, a major sleazebag who lost in a landslide to a great American Patriot (Endorsed by "TRUMP") after showing tremendous disloyalty to his Party (and Country!), and almost all Dumocrats, people that have totally lost their way, constantly supporting bad policy and even worse candidates, but are constantly critical of each and every fantastic win I have. These people should go home and rest, they do nothing but create division and loss," Trump wrote.
Trump clarified his position on the talks with Iran, writing, "The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal. It will be the exact opposite of the JCPOA disaster negotiated by the failed Obama Administration, which was a direct and open path to a Nuclear Weapon for Iran. No, I don't do deals like that."
"Paying the Revolutionary Guards to build weapons"
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sharply attacked the emerging US deal with Iran, arguing that it looked as though it had been taken from the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook," three senior Obama administration officials associated with the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
According to Pompeo, the deal would mean to "Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world."
Pompeo added that such a move was not "America First," and urged the administration to take a far tougher line: "Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region." He ended his remarks with an appeal: "Overdue. Let's go."
Pompeo is not the only voice in the Republican camp expressing concern about the emerging deal. Sen. Ted Cruz said he was "deeply concerned," warning that if the outcome was that an Iranian regime "still run by Islamists chanting 'Death to America'" received billions of dollars, was able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and retained effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, "that outcome would be a disastrous mistake." He urged Trump to "continue to hold the line, defend America & enforce the red lines he has repeatedly drawn."
Sen. Lindsey Graham also warned of the regional consequences of a deal that would be perceived as an Iranian achievement. He said that if the impression in the region was that the deal "allows the regime to survive and become more powerful over time, we will have poured gasoline on the conflicts in Lebanon and Iraq."
According to Graham, if an agreement were signed because the administration believed it was impossible to defend the Strait of Hormuz against "Iranian terror," and that Iran was still capable of causing severe damage to oil infrastructure in the Gulf, it would portray Tehran as a "dominant power." Graham warned that such a combination, in which Iran was seen as capable of "terrorizing the strait forever" and also severely damaging oil infrastructure in the Gulf, would be a "major shift of the balance of power in the region" and, over time, "a nightmare for Israel." He said that if these assumptions were true, "It makes one wonder why the war started to begin with if these perceptions are accurate."
