Trump: ‘I will renegotiate with Iran’

by Jesse Byrnes - 09/08/15 8:24 PM ET

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he would renegotiate President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal should he make his way into the Oval Office.

“If we have to wait until the next president is sworn in to revisit this nuclear weapons agreement, then the next president better be someone who knows how to negotiate and who will do what is best for the United States,” Trump wrote in a Tuesday-evening op-ed in USA Today.

{mosads}”When I am elected president, I will renegotiate with Iran — right after I enable the immediate release of our American prisoners and ask Congress to impose new sanctions that stop Iran from having the ability to sponsor terrorism around the world,” Trump wrote.

“In fact, if I am elected, I am sure the prisoners will be released before my taking office.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Obama cleared a significant political hurdle by getting enough support from Senate Democrats to block legislation in the Upper Chamber disapproving of his signature accord.

Trump will take part in a rally at the Capitol on Wednesday in opposition to the international accord over Iran’s nuclear program, which the Obama administration spent two years negotiating, along with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Ahead of his speech, GOP presidential rival Jeb Bush’s campaign hit Trump over who he would trust to handle Iran’s nuclear program, posting footage of Trump praising former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner.

Trump, a celebrity real estate tycoon, has previously shied away from vowing to rip up Obama’s agreement on his first day in office, as other GOP rivals have suggested they would do, and instead blasted particulars of the deal he argues would benefit the Iranian government.

Trump reiterated that sentiment in his Tuesday op-ed, hitting out at what he described as “amateur hour” for those in charge of securing the nuclear deal and calling for negotiating from “a position of strength.”

“A Trump presidency will force the Iranians back to the bargaining table to make a much better deal,” Trump wrote.

Tags Donald Trump