Former Vice President Dick Cheney Quotes JINSA Iran Strategy Council Report
Vice President Cheney notes the report at the 19:40 mark
Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, September 8, 2015, former Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the consequences of the Iran nuclear agreement. During his speech, the Vice President quotes from JINSA’s Iran Strategy Council Report saying that:
Vice President Cheney notes the report at the 19:40 mark
Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, September 8, 2015, former Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the consequences of the Iran nuclear agreement. During his speech, the Vice President quotes from JINSA’s Iran Strategy Council Report saying that:
“President Obama has agreed to Iranian demands to remove restrictions on key elements of the infrastructure Tehran uses to support global terrorism, including the IRGC Quds Force. He agreed to lift restrictions on Iran’s ICBM program and on its ability to import and export conventional weapons. If this agreement is approved, these concessions will further Iran’s efforts to achieve one of its main objectives in the Middle East-to drive the United States out. Former undersecretary of defense Ambassador Eric Edelman recently testified that under the JCPOA, quote, “The United States will not be able to rely, as it has for the past 30 years, on an assumption that it will have unimpeded access and control in all the domains of warfare in the Persian Gulf.” A recent study co-chaired by former Marine commandant General James Conway and former Deputy Commander of the United States European Command General Charles Wald, put it this way:
The JCPOA will enable Iran to improve its unconventional military capabilities to challenge the strategic position of the United States and its allies in the Middle East. Iran will be able to revitalize its defense industrial base in the short term even if it devotes only a fraction of the $100 billion or more that will be unfrozen as part of the agreement—more than the government’s entire budget for the current fiscal year—to military spending. Over the medium term, the removal of economic sanctions and the United Nations arms embargo will allow the regime to acquire other advanced technologies and weapons from abroad. And, once sanctions against its ballistic missile program sunset, Iran could more easily develop weapons capable of reaching targets in the Middle East and beyond—including Europe and the United States.
This agreement will enable Iran to modernize and expand its military capabilities while the United States military suffers from the devastating Obama-era defense cuts and the effects of sequestration. Contrary to claims made by the President and Secretary of State, the United States will be in a far worse position to defend our interests and prevent a nuclear armed Iran when the Obama agreement sunsets than we are today.”