Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) in an interview broadcast Sunday argued that President Obama’s default strategy for dealing with Iran was surrender.
{mosads}“I wouldn’t mind playing poker with this guy, because he tends to fold all the time,” Walker told host John Catsimatidis on his New York radio show “The Cats Roundtable.”
Obama’s tentative pact with Iran, he added, gave Tehran the better half of the bargain.
“That’s not good for America, that’s not good for Israel and that’s not good for our allies around the world,” Walker argued.
The Wisconsin governor, who is weighing a 2016 presidential bid, made similar charges during a speech given on Saturday night. He urged Obama to reconsider his framework agreement with Iran over its nuclear arms research during that address.
“We need to tell the president to back off from a bad deal,” Walker said at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition summit in Waukee.
Walker argued in Iowa that the problem was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader. His past actions, Walker charged, made him more foe than friend.
“They have not changed much since then,” he said, recalling the Iran hostage crisis that kept 66 Americans in captivity between 1979 and 1981.
“Their approach is still the same.”
The Obama administration announced its draft accord with Iran on April 2. The president hailed it as a “historic” moment in diplomacy during remarks from the Rose Garden made the same day.
Obama has vowed to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for more restrictions on its nuclear energy program.
Tehran, meanwhile, has promised it will allow more frequent atomic energy inspections and caps on its centrifuge and uranium stockpiles as part of the deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly criticized the government as dangerous for his nation. A nuclear Iran, he has argued, directly threatens Israel’s existence.
Obama has countered that diplomacy is the best option for keeping atomic bombs out of Iran’s hands.
Secretary of State John Kerry led U.S. efforts with Iran at the bargaining table in Lausanne, Switzerland last month. The two sides must reach a final agreement by a June 30 deadline.