Former UN Ambassador John Bolton says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an uphill battle in his quest to persuade the world not to trust Iran and its overtures toward nuclear disarmament.
He adds that he doesn't believe Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's diplomatic gestures "for a minute."
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"It's a very difficult task for Prime Minister Netanyahu. He's trying to warn the world that this charm offense, as everybody calls it, from the new Iranian leader is a complete fraud. It's a propaganda effort," Bolton told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"There's no distinction between Iranian moderates and hardliners when it comes to their nuclear weapons program," he said Wednesday.
Bolton thinks President Barack Obama, who last week spoke by phone with Rouhani, fears an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear program more than he fears Iran's getting nuclear weapons.
"We know what we know, but let's be clear, there's a lot about Iran's program we don't know, and all of that information that's unknown to us is bad news," Bolton said.
"But it's even worse from Obama's point of view. He knows things that are not true, and as Reagan said, that's always the most dangerous knowledge."
Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he doesn't believe in the gestures by Iran to end its nuclear weapons program.
"I don't believe their good faith for a minute. I think they've been lying to us for 20 years about their nuclear weapons program," he said.
"The most likely outcome at this point is a very bad agreement that allows Iran to continue enrichment, and they will promise, solemnly … not to go to any level closer to weapons-grade uranium, and they will open some of their facilities again to international atomic agency inspectors," he said.
"But they won't open the facilities they're not going to disclose and don't tell us about, some of which might even be in North Korea, where they've cooperated with North Korea on a variety of nuclear and ballistic missile-related projects."
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