McCain: ‘Vive la France’

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday hailed France for its “courage” to hold up a nuclear agreement with Iran.

Work toward an agreement to temporarily halt Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the easing of sanctions failed on Saturday as France took issue with the proposed deal’s ability to sufficiently curb the nation’s nuclear capacities.

{mosads}”Vive la France!” the Arizona Republican, a long-time critic of the Obama administration’s Iran policy, tweeted Sunday.

#France had the courage to prevent a bad nuclear agreement with #Iran. Vive la France!

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) November 10, 2013

According to The Associated Press, the French hoped to secure tougher conditions than those agreed to by the other nations engaged in talks, including the United States.

In particular, “Iran’s refusal to suspend work on a plutonium-producing reactor and downgrade its stockpile of higher-enriched uranium” were at issue for the French.

McCain joined Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) last month in warning President Obama he might be walking into a trap by pursuing diplomatic relations with Iran.

The lawmakers said the president should be on guard against a time-killing ploy intended to buy time for nuclear weapons development.

“Talks cannot be merely a stalling tactic, while Iran continues to move forward with aggressive enrichment of uranium,” the senators wrote.