First on CNN: Santorum slams deal with Iran
(CNN) - Former Sen. Rick Santorum criticized the interim deal to slow Iran's nuclear program. And the 2012 Republican presidential candidate said the move by President Barack Obama was "an act of a desperate” chief executive hoping to change the political narrative.
"This deal also does nothing to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. It provides vital resources for a ruthless regime to continue to oppress its people, threaten its neighbors, support terrorism, stabilize its economy, and violate numerous U.N. resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program," Santorum said in a statement.
"The agreement does no more than pay billions for Iran to hit the pause button on some of its activities that do little to slow down their march toward a nuclear weapon," he said of the deal between Iran and six world powers over the Middle East nation's nuclear program.
Santorum, a former two-term Senator who battled eventual 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney deep into last year's Republican primary and caucus calendar, joins a growing list of GOP politicians who have blasted the White House after the President announced the agreement on Saturday.
"Up to this point, the Iranian government has failed to comply with every U.N. resolution and every agreement having to do with the development of their nuclear program. Their government lies about everything from internal security to treatment of minorities, like Christians. And they have not altered their rhetoric concerning their desire to eliminate the state of Israel or, for that matter, destroy the West," said Santorum, who served eight years on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Santorum, who in a September on CNN's New Day called newly-elected Iranian leader Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a fraud, and who as a presidential candidate said he would be in favor of airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, said the new deal doesn't secure enough Iranian concessions.
"While Iran made some concessions in exchange for access to frozen assets, no uranium is being removed, construction of the Arak heavy water reactor can continue in violation of a U.N. resolution and nothing bars Iran from continuing to enrich uranium contrary to several U.N. resolutions. And our ally Israel, who is most directly affected by President Barack Obama's new deal, has openly and vigorously opposed it," Santorum said.
The President defended the agreement as a significant step forward.
"For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program and key parts of the program will be rolled back," Obama said Saturday, adding that "Iran has committed to halting certain levels of enrichment and neutralizing part of its stockpiles.”
He also said inspections will allow for “extensive access” to Iran's nuclear facilities and allow the world “to verify whether Iran is keeping its commitments," Obama said.
At the close of his statement, Santorum charged what a few other Republican politicians also have claimed: that Obama announced the deal to try to distract attention from the political uproar around the botched rollout of Obamacare.
"What happened this weekend is an act of a desperate President who is willing to abandon our allies in the Middle East just so he can change the political narrative of continuing failure here at home. The failure continues," Santorum concluded.
This pathetic idiot of 2nd century is crazy. Did he ever go out of USA? Nothing wrong with Iran. Israel is playing drama with GOP thugs as usual. Obama is 100 percent right on Iran.
I tolerate clueless fools as well as most people, but this idiot has no idea what he is talking about, and is becoming disgusting.
This deal just allows for a foundation for future deals to be built on.
If this concept is too complex for Santorum to understand, then he needs to go back to high school and brush up on his fundamentals.
His "Sarah Palin" canned speeches makes him look bad...very bad.
Oh, please. When aren't Teapubs slamming, bashing, holding witch hunt hearings, and continuing their destruction
of everything President Obama, the Democrats or anyone else tries to do for America.
One of the other "few" Republicans saying that this announcement is a distraction from Obamacare is John Cornyn.
I would love to hear a few "announcements" from teapubs that actually offer solutions to anything.
Boehner, Graham, Rogers, Cruz, McCain, etc....nothing but criticism. It certainly is "becoming disgusting".
Wow he finally get out of his rock
I'm surprised that the Cruz missile didn't beat him to the draw!
Happy to know this guy will never have access to any launch codes. Ever.
Rick Santorum is suppose to be a Christian. He sounds like a good ol warmonger to me. Good ol Christina values, huh Ricky!!
And Santorum knows exactly what about these international negotiations?
For all these articles about Republicans "slamming" the administration for something no one has done in decades headlines should just read "Republicans angry they didnt do it first"
He's a-root, root, rootin' for that nuclear holocaust so many fundies are wishing for.
/left behind
He is not a senator anymore and has no direct access to the information. This POTENTIAL deal sets a framework for future diplomatic actions for dealing with Iran. The fact that it was done with other international participants is another plus. Flexing your military muscle is not the only way to deal with a rogue regime. What this blowhard doesn't want to acknowledge is that this is a positive step forward. Only time will tell if Iran will hold up its end.
Santorum demonstrates the incredible weakness of the GOP once again- criticism, but no alternative plan, except in this case, war.
All politicians look at is how they can get re-elected. Political contributions are their lifeline so it is no surprise that are repeating what NuttyYahoo is feeding them. In the hope AIPAC gives them the money and not their opponent. Meanwhile, they care little about our country. Come election, we should remember them.
If dubya had made this deal, the repubs would luv it.
@ChrisM "Rick Santorum is suppose to be a Christian. He sounds like a good ol warmonger to me. Good ol Christian values, huh Ricky!!"
This is exactly why we need to keep religion out of government. "Good Christians" like him in charge of a USA Theocracy would be a scary thought. Let's keep it the way the founders intended it.
He thinks the President (not to mention the other world powers) are doing this deal to distract from the healthcare website glitches?! Yes Santorum, remind us why you are not the POTUS.
Wow. The ten initial comments are filled with nastiness & idiocy. Nothing wrong with Iran one comment says. Oh, so their torture, imprisonment, and murder of Christians & anyone who opposes their totalitarian regime is ok? I will trust someone, like Sen. Santorum, who has a very rich knowledge of foreign policy over idiots like Obama & Kerry ANY day of the week & twice on Sunday!
Another right wing, war mongering, profiteer from the industrial war machine heard from. Go away, and this time stay away.
Of course this is the same guy who thought he could work miracles on a brain dead woman.
(Insert Republican Name Here) slams Obama on (Insert subject here). Yawn. Irrelevant Presidential hopeful isn't even a has been, he's a never was.
I get really fed up... why
1) Republicans only topic is Obamacare and then thy claim international diplomacy etc, etc is " distraction from Obama care! QED in thier book government currently is all about Obamacare, Benghazi, the failure to make IRS a real scandal.
Let me see what ELSE DONT THEY WANT to GOVERN ON . Immigration reform, minimum wage, tax reform, Job creation, the economy, they filibuster budget reconciliation then claim Obama has not passed a budget and that's why debt is rising out of control... Its not is rising much more slowly and the economy therefore GDP is growing QED debt to GDP ratio's will reduce.
Regards,
Hodgson
That guy is frothing again.
The dems will keep peace inw the world thank you mr obama