It's a "sad day for American foreign policy" when the U.S. president operates under a "policy of withdrawal and weakness," Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said Friday on
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
Johnson denounced the Obama administration's actions concerning Iran, most recently revelations that last month President Barack Obama secretly wrote to Tehran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to float the idea of "a shared interest in fighting Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq and Syria,"
according to the Wall Street Journal.
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"Obama stressed to Mr. Khamenei that any cooperation on Islamic State was largely contingent on Iran reaching a comprehensive agreement with global powers on the future of Tehran's nuclear program by a Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline," people briefed on the correspondence told the Journal.
News about the letter, the fourth the president has sent to Iran's "most powerful political and religious leader" since taking office in 2009, does nothing but
show weakness, according to Johnson.
"The biggest problem President Obama has in conducting foreign policy is just the weakness that he has demonstrated and by capitulating to the Iranians right out of the block and when they began these negotiations by lessening sanctions, by basically agreeing that they can enrich uranium," Johnson told host J.D. Hayworth. "We lost those negotiations right out of the block and I don't see how you repair that.
"And now you add to that the situation in Syria with ISIS spilling over the border into Iraq. Now he's reaching out to the Iranians to be partners? The biggest state sponsor of terrorism around the world. From the standpoint of foreign policy that's being conducted by this administration, a policy of withdrawal, of weakness — and now he's having to reach out to the Iranians. It's a pretty sad day for American foreign policy."
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With Republicans taking control of both houses of Congress, change is on the horizon, according to Johnson, who promised strengthened sanctions for Iran.
"The Senate will actually allow votes on strengthening sanctions against Iran and the American people will see that there's a great deal of bipartisan support for stronger sanctions against Iran," he said. "There's a lot of bipartisan, I would say disappointment, in the way President Obama and Secretary Kerry are handling these negotiations with Iran."
On the
subject of immigration, Johnson said it's not looking "particularly promising."
The president so often says the "right things," Johnson said, but doesn't continue with the "right kind of action."
If Obama follows through on unilateral action, as he has repeatedly threatened, he will "poison the well," according to Johnson, who suggests a "common-sense approach" that begins with securing the border, and should also include a high-skills visa program and a "very robust guest worker program."
"There's a way of approaching this, but a step-by-step approach starting with securing our border is well past time," Johnson said.
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